Congress, AAP hold protests in Gujarat as state govt begins celebrations to mark CM Rupani’s 5 years in office

Several Congress leaders in the state attacked the government over the education policy while some party leaders criticised the state government for “wasting taxpayers’ money” on celebratory events.

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat kicked off a nine-day programme to celebrate the completion of five years in office by chief minister Vijay Rupani, the opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state held protests against the government on Sunday. Particularly, the two parties attacked the government’s education policy in the state.

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani said that PM Modi has opened IITs, IIMs and AIIMS in many states to increase the reach of education. (ANI )

Several Congress leaders in the state attacked the government over the education policy while some party leaders criticised the state government for “wasting taxpayers’ money” on such celebratory events. Also, some party workers were detained after they took out rallies with placards and by shouting slogans against the government as a part of the party's "save education programme."

“In Gujarat, people are being looted in the name of privatisation of education. Instead of being ashamed of this, the BJP government is organising celebrations using taxpayers' money. We demand that the Gujarat government immediately stop this policy of privatisation of education, withdraw decisions to shut down primary schools and fill vacancies in all government schools and colleges,” news agency PTI quoted state Congress chief Amit Chavda as saying earlier on Sunday.

Further, Chavda alleged that more than 10,000 classrooms in government schools in Gujarat were in dilapidated condition, while some colleges were facing staff crunch by as much as 40%, the PTI report further showed.

Congress leaders, including Paresh Dhanani, Bharatsinh Solanki and Arjun Modhwadia, took part in the protests, according to a press release by the party. Also, Congress said that it would organise programmes at the same time as the government's nine-day celebrations.

Meanwhile, the AAP held several events under the ‘agyaan divas’ programme, a name intended to mock the BJP’s ‘gyan shakti diwas.’

The party further claimed that more than 6,000 government schools were shut because of "lack of students", while as many as 14,000 schools had students of different classes studying in the same classroom.

In his reply, CM Rupani asked Chavda about what the Congress did when they were in power in the state and in the centre. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set up institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in all states to further the reach of education.

(With PTI inputs)