Prayagraj: Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Wednesday condemned the alleged lathicharge on students at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and the detention of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.Meanwhile, Congress workers staged separate protests in Prayagraj against the police action and demanded the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.Shrinate, who was in Prayagraj, said the Narendra Modi govt would have to answer for the alleged “brutal” treatment of students and the “inhuman” manner in which the opposition leaders were detained.She claimed the students were holding a peaceful march at Jantar Mantar when police used force against them. “The manner in which the students were treated is unacceptable,” she said.Members and office-bearers of the district and city Congress committees, along with workers from the party’s legal cell and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), staged a protest in Civil Lines and sought Pradhan’s resignation.In a separate protest outside Allahabad University, NSUI members demonstrated against the Centre and attempted to block traffic, leading to a heated exchange with police personnel.Congress state general secretary Mukund Tiwari said the country’s youth were being forced to take to the streets to secure their future. He alleged that leaks of recruitment and competitive examination papers in recent years had jeopardised the prospects of lakhs of aspirants.Senior Congress neta Shekhar Bahuguna said repeated paper leaks raised serious questions about the education system. He described the action against the students at Jantar Mantar as a violation of their democratic rights.Party spokesperson Haseeb Ahmed demanded an impartial probe into all paper leak cases, strict action against those responsible and a robust mechanism to prevent such incidents. He said the govt should address young people’s concerns instead of trying to suppress their voices.
