Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has described the youth-led protests that culminated in Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as "oxygen to democracy", saying the agitation reflected the failure of both the government and the Opposition.
In an interview with Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, executive editor of the party mouthpiece Saamana, Thackeray said the protests showed that people were no longer afraid of the state.
"It is commendable that people have no fear of jail or guns and this is "dangerous" for the ruling party," he said.
Pradhan resigned on Saturday following an unprecedented youth-led movement spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which mobilised lakhs of people over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations and the NEET paper leak.
The agitation, led by CJP founder Abhijit Dipke, grew into nationwide protests demanding Pradhan's resignation and wider reforms in the education sector.
"These protests have given oxygen to democracy which was almost dying," Thackeray said.
He also questioned the absence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the protests.
"CJP's protest is not only a failure of the ruling party but also of the Opposition. I had mentioned this sometime back, the country has lost trust in politicians," he said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister claimed that people had been offered only false promises.
The protests, he said, were about far more than the NEET controversy.
"The outburst in the form of protests by the youth was not just about NEET alone; it was an explosion of the betrayal and discontent of the last 12 years, and it is very fervent," he said.
"From Delhi to Mumbai, (I) have realised that people have moved beyond fear. Till now people were kept at gunpoint, but now they shrugged fear for their life and have hit the streets," Thackeray added.
Targeting the BJP-led Centre, he alleged that the government had "completely failed". "(They have) completely destroyed the country," the Sena (UBT) leader charged.
Thackeray also said that "labelling the youth as cockroach is their insult."
(With inputs from PTI)