‘Sack Dharmendra Pradhan’: Congress Leads Nationwide Protests on CBSE, NEET
We spoke to Indian Youth Congress’ national secretaries about the protests they have been leading across the country
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On June 8, Deepender Singh Hooda along with members of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) protested in Kurukshetra, Haryana for fair examinations and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Even though it was a peaceful protest, water cannons were deployed and the crowd faced lathi charge from the police.
As the controversy over paper leaks and CBSE portal malfunctioning intensify, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has been protesting across the country for over the past 20 days, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The youth wing of the Congress party, under the leadership of their President Uday Bhanu Chib, says they have one major demand: resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The past 27 days have seen over 50 protests all over the country, targeting all states. Over the next few days, the youth wing is set to protest in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Punjab, Gwalior, and Tamil Nadu. While addressing the gathering at Guwahati, Assam, IYC President Uday Bhanu Chib has expressed the body’s demands of fair examinations, stating that “when a paper leak occurs, the rights of students from poor families are snatched away. “
Apart from peaceful protesting, IYC members have been organising town halls and camps that are focussed on organising crowds against injustice. Members have also been visiting the families of students who committed suicide due to the NEET paper leak, to stand in solidarity with and reassure their family members.
In states like Karnataka where the Congress is in power, the IYC has made bus transit free for students and are working on other measures to make the examination process smooth.
'Consolidated Anger of The Youth'
Avantika Tiwari, who primarily looks after the ‘Shakti Abhiyan’ program focussed on women’s leadership, spoke to us about the continuing pattern of examination failures. When speaking about NEET paper leaks, she says “This has been a consistent thing by this government for the past 15 years. This is the consolidated anger of the youth.”
Shri Krishna Hari, also a National Secretary of the IYC, told us that “the intent of the protest is not to incite any kind of violence, but to give a platform to youngsters to be able to voice their concern.”
When speaking about the turnout of the protests, Hari says that “usually when a protest like this happens, we need to facilitate the mobilisation of the affected people. But this time around, we are seeing the youth and affected parents just gathering.”
Both Avantika and Hari spoke about marginalised communities and how they are disproportionately impacted by the paper leaks. “Marginalised communities spend lakhs of rupees, put things on mortgage, take loans for their studies to prepare for exams, and papers still get leaked because our system is not accountable enough to own up to its faults.”
On the topic of police cooperation, Hari spoke about how usually the IYC is denied permission to hold a protest, but at the very last moment, “they reluctantly agree to it.” Visuals on IYC’s X handle also show the deployment of water cannons at the protest in Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh.
Avantika further stressed the importance of protesting in 2nd and 3rd tier cities. She says that “a large number of students that prepare for competitive exams come from 2nd and 3rd tier cities. They have been contributing to the nation but they have never been represented in the political system. It is important we go deeper and protest in these cities.”
'No Coverage of Congress Protests in The Media'
While the protests have seen large scale participation, national media has not been covering this issue. When asked about why media houses have not been covering these protests, Avantika says, “It has been systematically planned that there should be no important coverage of Congress protests. Even the local media is not putting up anything.”
On the topic of media coverage, Hari says that “The media gives coverage to organic protests. Because the calendar for our protests have been out in the open and youngsters are mobilising and voicing their stories, the government knows that if the media covers this they have to let go of Dharmendra Pradhan.”
Hari mentions how “the government needs to bring a board of educationists and leaders that keep improving the modus of conducting exams. I believe that we have been stuck in 2014.” Both Avantika and Hari see the end goal of the protest being the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.