‘Dharmendra Pradhan must resign; ministry shift not acceptable’: Rahul Gandhi

“Mr Pradhan is a symbol of corruption and of what has happened to the future of India’s students,” Rahul Gandhi said

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday rejected talk of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan shifting to a different ministry and demanded his complete resignation from the government, calling him a “symbol of destruction of students and their future”.

The remarks come in the backdrop of the ongoing standoff between the government and the students protesting at Jantar Mantar demanding accountability for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test- Undergraduate (NEET-UG) . (AFP)

“The education minister who is corrupt, incompetent, misaligned has to be sacked…there is some talk going on in Mr Modi’s cabinet that the solution is to move Mr Pradhan from education to some other ministry. This is not acceptable to the students of India,” said Gandhi.

“Mr Pradhan is a symbol of corruption and of what has happened to the future of India’s students. He is a symbol of destruction of the most valuable thing our country has, which is students and their future,” he added.

The remarks come in the backdrop of the ongoing standoff between the government and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led students protests at Jantar Mantar demanding accountability for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test- Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leaks and Pradhan’s resignation. The standoff turned violent on Monday as security personnel deployed tear gas shells and lathi-charge.

In a statement later, Delhi police claimed the crowd was “unruly” and had “repeatedly ignored warnings.” Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met with leaders of CJP on Friday.

After the nearly two hour long meeting CJP’s national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka claimed that the government was positive on their other two demands which included compensation for suicide victims of the NEET leak and no FIRs against protesting students. They also claimed that the government had sought time till Saturday afternoon to deliberate on their demand for Pradhan’s resignation.

Gandhi reiterated three demands— Pradhan’s resignation, accountability for the violent police against students and an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi— which he claimed were not his but the students’ collective demands.

He also brought before the public a student that reportedly suffered a ligament tear in her leg resulting from the clashes with the police.

“This young lady is injured. Yesterday I showed you this young man who was shot in the eye. And there are thousands and thousands of youngsters who’ve had lathis break their legs, lathis break their heads, pellets in their bodies. The people who’ve done this— the organisers and the implementers— need to be punished and held accountable,” Gandhi said.

A student representative, speaking alongside him, said that they had had a long and productive discussion with the LoP about the education system, further thanking him for representing their demands. “Thank you very much for raising these three demands, sir. All these are the demands of the country’s youth and students. Thank you very much,” the student said.

“I am proud of you. You are India’s biggest strength. I’m proud of every single one of you who is standing there resisting this government that is attacking our Constitution, attacking our institutions,” Gandhi said.

“No amount of strength, the entire Indian government cannot move you from there [Jantar Mantar]. So, do whatever you want to do. Shut it down if you want. Threaten if you want. We are not going to move from here. They [students] are not going to move from here,” said the LoP, adding, “Narendra Modi is India’s past. The past can never fight the future.”