Jantar Mantar stir not a one-off phenomenon: Prashant Kishor
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Tuesday claimed that the protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi were “not a one-off phenomenon” and warned of more agitation by the youth who have been driven to the wall by the existing education system.
Referring to the police lathi charge on protesters in Patna earlier in the day, the Bankipur MLA also claimed that “the administration now thinks twice before using force” to quell such uprisings.
“In the last few years, whenever the youth of Bihar have hit the streets, they have faced a lathi charge. But the administration has come to realise the power of democracy thanks to what has been witnessed in the last two or three months,” Kishor told reporters.
It is heartening to see that the bureaucracy now thinks twice before ordering a lathi charge, the Bankipur MLA said. He was responding to queries about the police action against student activists who had tried to march towards the chief minister’s residence, to press for their demands with regard to exams conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission.
Notably, Kishor had undertaken a fast unto death last year in support of students who had then demanded cancellation of a competitive exam alleging that the question papers had been leaked.
While Kishor was himself arrested, many youngsters present at his dharna sustained serious injuries in the lathi charge.
The former political strategist asked the Samrat Choudhary Government to “speak to students, listen to their concerns and defuse the crisis by accepting their legitimate demands”.
“Let it be very clear that Jantar Mantar was not a one-off phenomenon. A large section of our youth feels aggrieved by privatisation of education, the mushrooming of coaching mafia and joblessness. In days to come, all those who are in power shall have to deal with many instances of youngsters hitting the streets,” he said.
Kishor also defended farmers from the outskirts of Patna, who had joined the protest to register their opposition to the proposed Pataliputra Greenfield satellite township. “Since the very inception, we had been saying that the project will face a lot of resistance in Bihar.
