“The thing that is very clear to everybody is that our education system, which was known to be one of the best education systems in the world, is today a rigged system… In the last 10 years, 152 leaks have taken place and zero convictions… Every month, lakhs of students are told that all the stress that you went through you’re going to have to go through again… 7.5 crore students and their families are affected by this,” Gandhi said at a press conference.
Calling them the students’ “non-negotiable demands”, Gandhi said Pradhan should be relieved of his duties, alleging he had failed as education minister. He also demanded that “every single person” who ordered and executed the lathi-charge on students be held accountable and said the Prime Minister, as the person ultimately responsible, should apologise to the students. Gandhi further accused the government of shutting the doors of job opportunities on students after their studies.
On the lathi-charge and the detention of Congress leaders outside the Prime Minister’s residence, Gandhi said, “Because in every government there comes a time when psychologically they collapse. The leadership collapses. So that has happened. The government is actually in panic.”
Referring to his detention, Gandhi said: “It’s fine. I’m used to getting punched. It’s no problem. My job is to express the will of India’s people, whether it is the will of the students, young people or farmers. This is the job that I am supposed to do as leader of opposition.”
