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‘Genuine concerns’: Murli Manohar Joshi criticises use of ‘brutal force’ against protesters
Joshi, a former BJP president, said the concerns and issues of students were genuine, and these ‘must be addressed with empathy and a vision for long-term solutions’
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former union education minister Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday criticised the use of “brutal force” on women and girls protesting at Jantar Mantar, asserting that the concerns that brought them to Delhi were “genuine” and should not be viewed merely as a law-and-order problem to be dealt with by force.
In a post on X, the 92-year-old leader expressed deep anguish at the use of force against the demonstrators during the ongoing protests and cautioned that this would alienate large sections from the national goal of Viksit Bharat (developed India). Joshi headed the education ministry between 1998 and 2004 and at the time, faced criticism for changing the curriculum and history textbooks.
“It is deeply painful to see that young students from different parts of the country have been gathered on the streets of New Delhi for several days. Their concerns and issues are genuine. These must be addressed with empathy and a vision for long-term solutions. I sincerely hope this will not be viewed merely as a law-and-order problem to be dealt with by force,” he said in a post on X.
“I am deeply pained to see that brutal force was used against women and young girls. Such use of force shall alienate large sections of Indian society from the national goal of Viksit Bharat,” he said.
Joshi’s outreach comes amid escalating tensions at Jantar Mantar, where thousands of students and youth representatives have staged a sit-in following widespread outrage over the paper leaks of the medical entrance exam NEET and systemic examination irregularities.
On July 20, the Delhi Police used force to stop a march by thousands of demonstrators towards Parliament.
Videos that surfaced on social media have showed several protesters, many of them appearing unarmed, being beaten by police personnel in riot gear, with some sustaining head injuries. Police, however, maintained that the crowd had turned violent, necessitating the use of force.
The agitation, led by the Cockroach Janta Party which was born out of a controversial remark by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant earlier this year, first launched a sit-in protest on June 6 demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated paper leaks.
After days of tepid crowds, the movement was galvanised by the hunger strike and forcible removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk last week.
Crowds swelled through the weekend and by Monday morning, columns of people – many of them students, first-time agitators and young professionals – had defied a steady monsoon drizzle and heavy police barricading to join what became the largest street protests in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term.
