JAIPUR: Hundreds of students in Udaipur marched and held demonstrations at the Udaipur Nagar Nigam campus on Tuesday in support of the nationwide student protests.
The protests centred on expressing solidarity with the CJP-led student agitation and demanding accountability for educational reforms and greater transparency in examinations.
Students and local youth also gathered to support Sonam Wangchuk and protest against the police action on students demonstrating in Delhi on Monday.
The protesters demanded transparency in examinations, systemic improvements in the education system and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The demonstrations in Udaipur continued throughout Tuesday but concluded peacefully, with local police and administrative officials monitoring the protests. Demonstrators warned of further escalation if their demands remained unmet.
Meanwhile, in Jaipur, hundreds of Congress workers gathered at Ambedkar Circle in the evening before staging a road blockade against the detention of Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.
Senior Congress leaders and several party workers sat on a dharna, raising slogans against the Centre.
During the protest, Congress workers raised slogans and burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Police subsequently detained the senior leaders along with hundreds of Congress workers and took them away in buses.
Those detained included former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra.
The Congress staged protests across all districts of Rajasthan after Rahul Gandhi was detained in New Delhi following a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's residence, where Opposition leaders demanded the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET paper leak.
Speaking to reporters before his detention, Gehlot accused the Centre of failing to address concerns over the alleged NEET paper leak despite weeks of student protests.
"This issue concerns the future of millions of children. The government should have resolved it instead of allowing the matter to drag on for a month. Students have been protesting and some even observed hunger strikes for 15 to 20 days, yet no minister or government representative came forward to speak to them," he said.
Gehlot said Rahul Gandhi had been demanding Pradhan's resignation since the controversy surfaced.
He described the detention of Opposition leaders as "sad and unfortunate", saying it was unprecedented that the Leader of the Opposition, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi and several MPs had to protest outside the Prime Minister's residence.
Claiming that public anger was growing, Gehlot alleged that the Centre was underestimating resentment among students and youth.
"The government must understand the scale of public anger," he said.
Addressing the media, Dotasra alleged that the BJP-led Centre had ignored the concerns of students and youth.
He criticised the police action against protesters in Delhi, alleging that students, including women, were subjected to a lathi-charge.
Dotasra said the Congress would continue its agitation until the Union Education Minister resigned.
He added that simultaneous protests were held in every district of Rajasthan on Tuesday and asserted that the party's campaign against the alleged NEET paper leak and the police action against protesters would continue in the coming days.