Demonstrations erupt in multiple states over the paper leak controversy with police detentions, political confrontations and student marches intensifying
Protests over the NEET irregularities spread across several cities on Wednesday with student groups and Congress supporters taking to the streets as outrage grew over Monday’s police crackdown on protesters marching towards Parliament.
While the police fired tear smoke and used water cannons to disperse protesters owing allegiance to the All India Students’ Association (AISA) in Patna, Congress workers staged demonstrations in Bengaluru, Chennai, Surat, Kerala and Telangana demanding education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
Violent clashes broke out between BJP and Congress workers in Patna on Wednesday over the NEET paper leak and the detention of leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi during his demonstration outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in the capital on Tuesday.
The BJP and Congress workers faced off during a protest march in Patna as visuals showed both sides attacking each other with lathis and stones. Several workers were injured on both sides. The police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the protesters and cleared the area.
As the swarm of AISA protesters on a “Lok Bhavan march” entered the restricted zone and came close to vital installations, the administration ordered the sealing of the Assembly premises a few hundred metres away. The incident left members of both Houses of the legislature, who were attending the monsoon session, confined to the building.
Trouble had been brewing since 11am soon after a large number of student activists, who were expressing their solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party’s movement in Delhi, gathered at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna.
“We seek the resignation of Pradhan for his failure to prevent NEET paper leaks. We also demand the resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah, on whose orders the Delhi police brutally tried to repress the Jantar Mantar agitation earlier this week,” alleged Paliganj MLA Sandeep Saurav, a former general secretary of AISA and the JNU Students’ Union.
Tamil Nadu
Congress leaders were forcibly evicted, bundled into police vans and detained during a march towards the Maharashtra BJP office in Mumbai. The protest was against the police action on marching students in Delhi on Monday and the treatment meted out to Rahul.
Led by Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, the march began from Gandhi Bhavan with protesters planning to hand over a copy of the Constitution at the BJP office. However, the police stopped and detained Congress leaders and workers midway near Regal Cinema in south Mumbai.
Telangana
In Hyderabad, BJP and Congress workers exchanged lathi blows and hurled stones at each other outside the Telangana BJP state headquarters at Nampally after Congress workers, including MLC Balmuri Venkat, arrived near the party office to stage a protest over the police crackdown in Delhi and against the detention of Rahul.
Later, the BJP held a counter-protest in the city over Rahul’s “unruly behaviour” during his demonstration outside Modi’s residence. Telangana BJP president Ramchander Rao and other party leaders were detained when they were marching towards the Congress office. Both sides accused each other of instigating the violence.
Karnataka
Bengaluru police on Wednesday detained several Congress workers after they had gathered outside the BJP headquarters in Malleswaram. The party workers protested against the NEET irregularities, police excesses on students in Delhi and the detention of Rahul and other leaders.
BJP workers and several leaders, including leader of Opposition R. Ashoka, took out a protest to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office and accused the Congress of politicising the NEET paper leaks. They were detained before they could reach the location.
Several students and civil rights groups held protests in Bengaluru expressing solidarity with students across the country, condemning the police crackdown on students in Delhi and demanding accountability for examination irregularities and paper leaks.
Tamil Nadu
Congress workers in Chennai staged a demonstration against the police lathi-charge on protesters in Delhi and the detention of Opposition leaders, while also raising the issue of the NEET leak.
Kerala
In Kerala’s Palakkad, the Youth Congress and the Kerala Students Union organised a march demanding the resignation of Pradhan.
Gujarat
Congress workers in Gujarat’s Surat were detained while protesting against the detention of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and raising the issue of the NEET paper leak.
Uttar Pradesh
The Uttar Pradesh units of the BJP and the Congress on Wednesday held separate protests in Lucknow over the dharna by Opposition leaders outside the Prime Minister’s residence.
The Congress set out on a march to gherao the chief minister’s residence against the “ill-treatment” of Rahul and Priyanka. Due to the heavy deployment of policemen, neither could the BJP reach the Congress office, nor could the Opposition party proceed to the chief minister’s residence.
Mizoram
Hundreds of students from various institutions and schools in Mizoram staged a demonstration in Aizawl on Wednesday to express solidarity with those who have been protesting in Delhi over the NEET paper leak. Mizoram’s apex student organisation, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl, announced a protest over the leak on Thursday.
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