Rahul backs students, targets Govt over paper leaks, student distress
A day after his sit-in in front of the Prime Minister’s residence, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Union Government of destroying India’s education system, expressing support for the protesting students.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Rahul alleged that the education system is not only rigged but also unaffordable. “The protesting students are not terrorists and are simply asking for an education system that works and is fair,” said the Leader of Opposition while backing demands for an apology to students from PM Narendra Modi.
A video of police violence against students during Monday’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest was shown at the start of the press conference.
Referring to the police action, Rahul said, “The question is why is this happening to our students? What have they done to have security forces aiming weapons at them, to be beaten up, to be thrashed? Children have committed suicides, they go through unlimited stress and there is a legitimate, very deep problem in this country. The thing that is clear to everybody is that our education system, which was known to be one of the best education systems in the world, is a rigged system.”
Rahul claimed 152 paper leaks have taken place in the last decade while 7.5 crore students were affected by the breakdown of the education system. Annual exam expense of families is Rs 1.32 lakh crore, which is nearly equal to the education budget of Rs 1.4 lakh crore, the Congress leader claimed.
He asserted that the demands of the students are legitimate. “They are demanding the resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is known to be corrupt. He should be relieved of his duties,” Rahul said.
His remarks came a day after he, along with Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Akhilesh Yadav, were forcibly removed by police after they held a sit-in outside PM Modi’s residence in New Delhi, demanding his resignation. Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, along with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, visited the venue to persuade the Opposition leaders to vacate the sensitive site. The leaders were then detained and lately released.
