Nagpur, July 23 (IANS). Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Maharashtra government over the ongoing student protests over the NEET paper leak. He strongly criticized the administration for lathi-charging the peaceful protesting students and threatening to implicate them by accusing them of possessing drugs.
Wadettiwar said that the future of the students is a very serious issue and the government should consider their legitimate demands sympathetically. Using force to suppress the voice of peaceful protesting students is a direct attack on democratic values.
Wadettiwar said, “The motto of the Maharashtra Police is ‘Sadrakshanaya Khalanigrahanay’ (protecting the good people and punishing the bad people). Yet, the police officers themselves are threatening to frame the student protesters by accusing them of possessing 50 grams of drugs.”
Addressing the media, he asked, “It seems that the time has come to protect the citizens from the police themselves. After all, where did the police get these drugs to threaten the students?”
Pointing out that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also strongly supported the students’ issues, Wadettiwar said the party has launched statewide protests, with parents even joining at the taluka level.
He urged the Central government led by Prime Minister Modi and the state administration led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to listen to public sentiments and take constructive steps to resolve the grievances of the students. He alleged that instead of starting talks, the government is trying to brutally crush the movement.
On the issue of paper leak, Wadettiwar said that in the last decade, many competitive examination papers have been leaked, due to which the future of lakhs of competitive students is in danger.
He said it is the primary duty of the government to maintain transparency and credibility in the examination processes. Advised the ruling administration to accept its failures and implement reforms instead of blaming the opposition.
Citing the crisis faced by farmers, the Congress leader criticized the Maharashtra government for inflating the farm loan waiver figures. He claimed that the disorganized apology lists have exposed how farmers are being cheated and demanded immediate transparency from the administration in the matter.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Maharashtra Congress Party leaders took a tough stand against the BJP and staged a major protest. He condemned the lathicharge on students protesting against the NEET paper leak and the unacceptable behavior meted out to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress MPs.
The Congress took out a protest march from Gandhi Bhavan to the BJP office in south Mumbai. The party intended to reach the BJP office and hand over a copy of the Constitution to them. However, the police stopped and detained Congress leaders and officials near Regal Cinema.
The protesters raised loud slogans like “Modi hatao, desh bachao” and “Whenever Modi gets scared, police should be pushed forward”.
Many officials and prominent leaders took part in this protest under the leadership of Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal. These included Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Working Committee member and former minister Naseem Khan, MLA Bhai Jagtap, former MP Bhalchandra Mungekar, former MP Hussain Dalwai and senior social worker Tushar Gandhi and many others.
Sapkal alleged that the Modi government’s failure in dealing with the NEET question paper leak and ongoing irregularities in the examination has put the future of lakhs of students across the country in darkness.
Angry students took to the streets, but they had to face brutal police lathi charge, water cannon and tear gas on the orders of Modi-Shah administration.
He said that democratic and constitutional values have been sidelined for the last 12 years. He said that PM Modi misled the youth with incomplete promises of providing two crore jobs every year. He also said that apart from lack of employment, examinations were also not being conducted properly.
–IANS
ASH/PM
