- Gandhi calls for Modi’s resignation “for destroying the future of Indian youth.”
- 60 protesters injured in clashes with security forces in New Delhi.
- The organizers of the protest condemn the “arrogance” of the authorities.
NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi resign over the police crackdown on student protests calling for reforms in the education system.
Modi must resign “for destroying the future of India’s youth,” the Congress Party leader said in a social media post as he led a march with other parliamentarians to the prime minister’s residence in New Delhi.
“The government does not want to take any responsibility, nor does it want to have a debate about it in parliament,” said Gandhi, leader of the opposition in the lower house.
Gandhi later staged a sit-in protest outside Modi’s residence, where shouts of “we want justice” were interspersed with chants of “down with Modi.”
Hours later, AFP Journalists watched as Gandhi and other parliamentarians were put on a bus and taken away from the area.
The developments come after police said 60 protesters were injured in clashes with security forces in the heart of New Delhi on Monday, in the largest street demonstration in the capital in about five years.
Thousands of protesters had gathered to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following a call by the online movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
Police fired tear gas and attacked protesters with batons, who responded by throwing stones. At least 118 police officers were also injured, Delhi Police said of Monday’s clashes.
“What happened yesterday is that our Constitution was trampled,” said Sandeep Dixit, a senior Congress Party leader. AFP.
“After that, no self-respecting politician or citizen will be able to stay on the sidelines.”
The CJP vowed to press ahead with its demands for Pradhan’s ouster as thousands of protesters remained camped at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site on Tuesday, many of them calling for changes to the broader education system.
The CJP has gained millions of followers on social media since its launch in May, fueling one of the biggest challenges to Hindu nationalist leader Modi since he won his third term in 2024.
‘Shameful day’
“We will not stop. Pradhan has to be sacked,” CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said on social media.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday urged protesters not to lose hope.
“They want to break our spirit,” he said, standing on top of a truck. “Don’t let them silence you.”
Protest organizers condemned the “arrogance” of authorities and said hundreds of protesters had been injured.
“It is a shameful day in the history of Indian democracy that the Delhi police brutally beat up people, honest students, who had come for a genuine problem,” Ranka said. AFP.
Ranka, who met Minister JP Nadda on Monday, said the government was yet to respond to their demands.
The protesters said they would not give in.
“Now we have become even braver,” said Chandra Pratap Sishwi, a 25-year-old law student.
“When I saw people beaten like that by the police, my blood boiled.”
Parliament was suspended on Tuesday after opposition benches demanded a debate on alleged “brutality unleashed on students”.
Despite rapid economic growth, millions of people in the world’s most populous nation still struggle to find stable, well-paying jobs, fueling discontent.
The protests follow a series of exam scandals that have undermined confidence in India’s testing system.
Some 2.2 million aspiring medical students sat a new exam under tight security last month after the previous exam was scrapped following a leaked question paper.
This came on top of another scandal involving the online grading of exams taken by nearly two million high school students.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday defended the government, saying it had acted quickly following the exam leak and arrested several people.
He said Modi had called for a “foolproof system” to prevent future irregularities in a closed-door meeting with his allies on Tuesday.
Modi has yet to comment directly on the protests.
