NEW DELHI: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hailed Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as the “victory of the future of India.”During a press conference, the Congress leader said the country’s education system had been under attack for years and that the government would have to take concrete steps to bring about reforms.”First of all, this is the victory of our students. This is the future of India. The education system which used to be our pride, the whole world acknowledged that the education system of India is very good. It has been under attack for years. It is being captured, it is being privatized. This was a reaction to that. Pradhan is a symbol. A symbol of corruption, a symbol of destruction of the education system, a symbol of incompetence,” Rahul said.
CJP Jantar Mantar Protest Updates
“He had to go. And it is good that he went. But now the government will have to take concrete steps to change the education system. The RSS’s capture of the education system of India is a big issue. If it is Modi ji’s fault, then the RSS is equally at fault,” he added.The Congress leader also warned the government and said, “This country belongs to the people of India. It belongs to the Constitution of India. All these institutions do not belong to you. If you continue down this path, you will see that what has happened now will happen on a scale ten times larger. That is the basic message.”He also targeted Union home minister Amit Shah over the alleged brutality against protesters marching to Parliament on July 20 and claimed that the issue would be prominently raised by the Opposition during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.”We hold Mr Amit Shah directly responsible for the violence that has taken place against our students. He authorised the shooting of our students. He authorised the use of lethal weapons, including pellet guns, against our students. For us, this is a fundamental issue. We will not accept our own forces shooting at the future of India. This will be a major issue in Parliament.””I want to thank all the students from the bottom of my heart and whatever support they need from my side, wherever they need support, I am ready. Congress party’s idea with the protest was to support it wholeheartedly. We supported it and we are here to protect the students of India, to protect the future of India. This is a fight between the past, which is Narendra Modi and the RSS, and the future of India, and we are very confident that the future of India will defeat the past,” he added.This comes after Pradhan said he had stepped down after considering the situation that had developed at Jantar Mantar and across the country, adding that the government had acted swiftly after irregularities in the NEET-UG examination surfaced by handing the probe to the CBI, cancelling the examination and announcing a re-test.Minutes after Pradhan’s resignation, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had declared that the protest would continue until the remaining demands were met. He had sought Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of students who died by suicide following the paper leak and action against police personnel over the alleged crackdown on protesters on July 20.However, following three rounds of talks with the Centre, the CJP on Sunday announced that it was withdrawing its 36-day agitation at Jantar Mantar with immediate effect after the government accepted its remaining demands, while also agreeing to consider the party’s five-point charter on examination reforms.
