SHILLONG/TURA, July 24: Student organisations across Meghalaya on Friday strongly condemned the alleged use of excessive force by Delhi police against peaceful student protesters on July 20 and extended solidarity to the nationwide agitation demanding accountability over competitive examination paper leaks and systemic reforms in the education sector.
NESO chairman Samuel B. Jyrwa termed the police response — including baton charges, the use of tear gas and the reported deployment of plainclothes personnel armed with lathis — as a “brutal and excessive” action against unarmed students.
He described the incidents as “an alarming assault on democratic values and the constitutional rights of citizens to peacefully assemble and express legitimate grievances.”
Criticising the Centre for what NESO called an insensitive approach towards an issue affecting the future of millions of students, Jyrwa said that instead of addressing concerns through meaningful dialogue, the authorities had resorted to repression and intimidation.
The issues raised by the protesters, including repeated paper leaks and the demand for greater transparency, accountability, fairness and integrity in recruitment and examination systems, were genuine and required immediate attention, he maintained.
In Shillong, several students of North-Eastern Hill University carrying placards and banners attended a peaceful meeting organised by the NEHU Students’ Union and NEHU KSU in front of the Central Library. They conveyed strong support to the Cockroach Janta Party and youths demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while expressing resentment over the handling of protesters in New Delhi.
Senior professor Dr Prasenjit Biswas asserted that “murderers of democracy are ruling and spoiling the country” and said students had woken up, with the entire nation now looking at Jantar Mantar. Lamenting that a faulty National Education Policy had been imposed without discussions, he described the concept of CUET as a gate-keeping mechanism for collecting money.
Prof Lakhon Kma said nobody could curtail the right to protest in a democracy and noted that NEHU itself had suffered in the last two-and-a-half years as the education system had totally failed.
Students who addressed the gathering expressed full support for the protesters and warned the government not to take the youth lightly. A candle-light vigil was organised to pay respects to the young students who lost their lives over the NEET paper-leak controversy, and a minute’s silence was observed.
NPP leader and Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma’s wife, Mehtab Chandee, asked the central government to give a sympathetic and patient hearing to the students’ concerns, terming them genuine. She said students were part of society and the next generation.
On the NEET issue, she noted that the examination had been initiated to make placements easier and bring transparency, but “the way things are going, it seems something somewhere needs to be handled and taken care of.”
She stressed the need to dig further, identify where things were going wrong and take corrective measures.
In East Garo Hills, the Garo Students’ Union (Eastern Zone) organised a peaceful gathering at the parking lot in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Williamnagar to express solidarity with education reformer Sonam Wangchuk and the students’ movement in New Delhi.
The programme highlighted challenges facing Meghalaya’s education system, particularly in rural and remote districts, including poor school infrastructure, inadequate classrooms and learning facilities, poor road connectivity, shortage of qualified teachers, and the concentration of coaching and career guidance programmes in urban centres.
A memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma was submitted through the East Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, urging comprehensive reforms, improvement of infrastructure and connectivity, recruitment of adequate teachers, decentralisation of educational opportunities, minimising non-teaching assignments, strengthening digital education, establishing district-level competitive examination coaching centres, and introducing meaningful career guidance and skill development programmes.
Meanwhile, members of the Voice of the People Party Youth Wing joined the ongoing CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and personally handed over a letter of solidarity to CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke.
The delegation, which travelled from Meghalaya to participate from July 23 to 26, said the objectives of the CJP movement closely aligned with the party’s own campaign for transparency and accountability. The letter, signed by VPP Youth Wing president Marbud Dkhar, Finance Secretary Riborlin Shylla and executive members Wallamkupar Nongsiej and David C. Umwi, reaffirmed solidarity with the agitation.
