Rahul Gandhi seeks Pradhan exit
The Congress upped the ante against the Government, demanding immediate resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Party leader Rahul Gandhi termed the minister a criminal and a symbol of the collapse of India’s education system. “Pradhan is a criminal education minister and a symbol of the collapse of our education system and thus he must be removed from his post,” he said.
Addressing a press briefing, Rahul presented before the media a student protester who was allegedly shot with a pellet gun by security personnel in the Capital during the July 20 protests.
He demanded that there should be action against those who shot at and baton-charged students, and sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the students.
“You are saying that protesters have been hit by pellet guns. I want to explain when pellet guns were fired. My brother was struck by a pellet gun when he was peacefully protesting with a Tricolour in hand,” Rahul said with the injured protester, who identified himself as Sahil, by his side, as he addressed the media outside Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence. The Delhi Police has, however, denied that its personnel used pellet guns against protesters during the march.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that instead of making Dharmendra Pradhan resign and then start a meaningful discussion on the education system, PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah have resorted to denigrating the centres of learning. He said students are on ground zero because the Government is now using these much-respected universities as propaganda outlets to bully them. Kharge’s statement came after the Delhi University and the Jawaharlal University warned students to stay away from protests at Jantar Mantar protests.
“Dear students and faculty, your safety matters to us. Please note that any unlawful assemblies or demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, which are strictly regulated as per the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, may invite legal action,” the Delhi University posted on X on Thursday night. A similar message was posted by the X account of JNU.
Rahul also slammed the Delhi University and asked how dare it threaten students for exercising their democratic rights.
