Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress leaders, is presently protesting outside PM Narendra Modi's house over the police crackdown during the peaceful march by students on Monday against exam irregularities and paper leaks.
Congress leaders are demanding resignation of PM Modi and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Rahul Gandhi called upon the people who believe in justice for students to join the Congress protest.
"An attack on students is an attack on every Indian family. PM Modi believes he can get away without answers, without sequences. He cannot. Not this time. I appeal to every patriotic Indian who believes our students deserve justice - join us in dharna in front of the Prime Minister's residence. The voice of India's students will not be ignored," Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.
“We have marched to PM Modi’s house to demand answers from him for the brutalities against young students yesterday. The Government doesn’t want to take any accountability, or does it want to have a debate on it in Parliament. PM and HM must resign for destroying the future of India’s youth,” Rahul had said in a post earlier on X.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendera Singh, arrived at the protest site and was seen briefly conversing with Rahul Gandhi. yet, the talks remained inconclusive.
Delhi Police detained some Congress leaders who were part of the protest.
Congress has alleged that their leaders were not allowed to speak and raise the issue concerning students in Parliament.
"We have a simple demand. Our Leaders of the Opposition have raised this demand both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The demand is that the Home Minister clarifies this in Parliament and this issue is discussed in the House. We want him to issue a statement on the way democracy and our Constitution are being murdered, and atrocities are being committed against the students. We have been demanding the resignation of the Education Minister for 45 days," he told reporters.
Rajeev Shukla stated the party had no other option left except to protest. "They are not conducting a debate in Parliament. So what else could we have done? We had to take to the streets."
Sandeep Dikshit alleged that the government tried to politicise the matter of the NEET-UG paper leak.
"Rahul Gandhi has always raised such issues. He raised a question on the entire education system. The day the paper leaked, he took to the streets. The government has been trying to politicise this matter. We have to stand with every youth of the country whose aspirations and expectations were brutally trampled by the government yesterday."
"They wanted us to withdraw the protest, and we did not agree because our demands were not met. We want Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign and a discussion in Parliament on the paper leaks. More MPs, more Congress workers and more common people will join our protest," said Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain.
"Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi wanted to raise their voices in Parliament about the way students were treated in Delhi on Monday. But our leaders were not allowed to speak in the House. PM Narendra Modi neither comes to the House himself nor listens to the Opposition. In such a situation, we have staged a sit-in outside the Prime Minister's residence --they will have to respond," said Naseer Hussain.
The protest comes after both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day as the Opposition sought discussion on the NEET-UG paper leak and other issues in the education sector.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and KC Venugopal met student protestors who were injured in a police crackdown in the national capital, with Congress saying PM Modi should apologise for what it called "brutality" against the country's youth.
Before reaching the hospital, Rahul Gandhi spoke to reporters in the Parliament House complex, where he said, "The issue is about students, about the future of the youth. And what is being done, people being beaten and thrashed, this is completely un-Indian. Modi ji has not even apologised for what happened yesterday."
