New Delhi, July 26: The chants fell silent and calm descended on Jantar Mantar on Sunday, a day after the 36-day agitation over irregularities in exams and the NEET paper leak ended with the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. While CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke recovered from typhoid at home, environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk recuperated in a hospital.
The sprawling protest site in the heart of the national capital, which had echoed with slogans, speeches and fervent activity for more than a month, wore a deserted look as the makeshift tents had disappeared, and the volunteers and supporters had dispersed, leaving behind little trace of the agitation.
Youth celebrate Pradhan’s resignation
A massive crowd of youth waving the national flag and holding posters of the Constitution gathered at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Sunday to celebrate the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Despite light rains since morning, the youth in raincoats and under umbrellas carried posters of B R Ambedkar, the chief architect of India’s Constitution, along with creative social media memes that had gone viral during the nationwide protests by the CJP.
The youth, mostly college students, walked to Shivaji Park from Dadar station from different parts of the city and neighbouring areas.
Pradhan resigned on Saturday, following which the CJP called off its 36-day agitation that galvanised lakhs of people over irregularities in exams and the NEET paper leak.
‘Pradhan offered to quit on first day’
Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has claimed that Dharmendra Pradhan had offered to resign as Union Education Minister on the very first day of the student agitation in Delhi.
“Pradhan’s resignation has foiled the designs of those foreign forces that wanted to destabilise India by spreading violence, as happened in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. I congratulate him for what he has done,” Vijayvargiya told reporters in Indore on Saturday.
‘Votes can be stolen, not people’
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday hailed students for their nationwide protests over the NEET paper leak, saying the agitation marked the beginning of a larger fight against the BJP and proved that “votes can be stolen, but not people”.
Rahul Gandhi writes to HM Shah
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding accountability for the “barbaric assault” on peacefully protesting students here and asking whether he approved the use of “lethal force”, including pellet guns, against the youth. Gandhi said most shocking has been the use of lethal pellet guns. (PTI)
