New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Modi government of destroying India’s education system and expressed full support for the protesting students, saying their demands, including Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, are fully legitimate and non-negotiable.
The protesting students are not terrorists and are simply asking for an education system that works and is fair, said Gandhi while also backing demands for an apology to students from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and holding everyone responsible for the assault on students accountable.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Gandhi alleged that the education system is not only rigged, but it is also unaffordable.
A video of alleged “police brutality” against students during Monday’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest was shown at the start of the press conference.
Referring to the police action, Gandhi said, “The question is why is this happening to our students. What have they done to have security forces aiming weapons at them, to be beaten up, to be thrashed.
“They are protesting peacefully, asking for what this country owes them. They are simply asking as students in this country- ‘we deserve an education system that is fair’.”
Children have committed suicides, they go through unlimited stress and there is a legitimate, very deep problem in this country, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
“The thing that is clear to everybody is that our education system, which was known to be one of the best education systems in the world, is a rigged system,” he said.
He claimed 152 paper leaks have taken place in the last decade.
“Every month lakhs of students are told that all the stress you went through, you will have to undergo it again and ‘we don’t give a damn’,” Gandhi said.
He further said that 7.5 crore students were affected by the breakdown of the education system.
“There have been zero convictions despite 152 paper leaks,” he said.
“A group of people are destroying our education system and the lives of our students,” he said.
Annual exam expense of families is Rs 1.32 lakh crore, which is nearly equal to the education budget of Rs 1.4 lakh crore, Gandhi claimed.
“This is pure theft from these families, and after you steal from them you tell them the paper is leaked,” he said, hitting out at the government.
The second reason why students are protesting is that after acquiring education, students are told that the doors that were opened to you are now closed.
“So manufacturing is closed, entrepreneurship is closed, corporate jobs are closed, public sector is closed. The only choice they have is a government job. Then you rig the system and make it unaffordable. We are 100 per cent in agreement with students. There must be some consequences,” he said.
Gandhi asserted that the demands of the students are legitimate.
“They are demanding the resignation of the Education Minister. Dharmendra Pradhan, who is known to be corrupt, should be relieved of his duties,” the former Congress chief said.
He has shown he is incapable of running this system, Gandhi said.
“Second demand is everyone who raised a finger on students must be held accountable, and PM Modi must apologise to students for what has happened,” he said.
“We fully support these demands and every single student who is on the street,” Gandhi said.
His remarks came a day after he, along with Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Akhilesh Yadav, were forcibly removed by police after they held a dharna outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence here, demanding his resignation.
The surprise sit-in in the high-security zone sent the government into a tizzy, prompting it to rush Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, along with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, to persuade the opposition leaders to vacate the sensitive site.
Gandhi’s discussion with the minister lasted a few minutes, after which Singh and the home secretary left as the talks remained inconclusive.
Soon after Singh left the protest site, police forcibly removed and detained Gandhi and other leaders in the evening.
Rahul Gandhi was taken to the Chhatrasal stadium in Model Town after his detention, but was released a few hours later. Priyanka Gandhi and some other MPs were taken to the Mandir Marg police station, where Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited them.
They were released after a few hours. Some other MPs and leaders were taken to the Kingsway Camp police station and released later.
After his release, Rahul Gandhi said in a video that once it was clear that the government had no intention of scheduling a debate on the students’ issue, they decided to hold the sit-in outside the prime minister’s residence.
