The opposition parties have also expressed support for the protests by youth and students demanding reforms in the education system in India and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The opposition parties have criticized the Delhi Police for brutally suppressing the Parliament March led by the Kakroch Janata Party (CJP) demanding the resignation of Education Minister Pradhan on Monday. The main opposition parties, from the Indian National Congress to the Left parties, have taken to the streets. 

Congress President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and other leaders reached the Prime Minister's residence on Lok Kalyan Marg in Delhi and sat on a dharna. They are demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologize on behalf of the government for the repression of the student protest. 

Amid the dharna, the government had sent Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh and Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan to talk to Gandhi. Minister Singh said on social media, "We requested Rahul Gandhi to stop the sit-in, saying that it would cause inconvenience to the common people. Gandhi said that he would end the sit-in if the government was ready to discuss the issues related to NEET and the related agitation in Parliament. After that, we took permission from the top leadership of the government and told Gandhiji that the government was ready to discuss all the issues related to NEET and the related agitation in Parliament."

Later, Gandhi demanded the resignation of Education Minister Pradhan, he said, adding that things got worse. The Congress did not respond to Minister Singh's statement. Shortly after that, the police arrested Gandhi and his leaders. The police also arrested leaders including Samajwadi Party national president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Kumar Yadav and Lok Sabha member Dimple Yadav from the sit-in.

After the arrest, Gandhi said that the power of Satyagraha is greater than the power of the Modi government. He wrote on social media, ‘Arrest them, put them in jail, it doesn’t matter.’ He said that every account of the atrocities committed against students and youth will be investigated. ‘Modiji, whatever you do, use all your strength, but this fight for justice for students will not be stopped,’ he said. He said that the attack on students is an attack on the Indian family. 

The Congress has posted a video of Gandhi being arrested on social media. Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala has said that the government has resorted to repression and hooliganism against students and has fired tear gas. He said, ‘Today, Congress workers including Rahul Gandhi surrounded the Prime Minister’s residence in protest against that repression. If Prime Minister Modi thinks that the way the students are being tortured will silence their voices, then that is an illusion. Because this is the beginning of a new revolution.'

According to the Indian Express, Gandhi had 'secretly' planned the sit-in in front of the Prime Minister's residence, which is on 'high alert' round the clock due to security. Congress MPs were also told only to go to wish Kharge a happy birthday. After celebrating his birthday for a while, Gandhi only asked him to follow him. After that, they sat on a sit-in in front of the Prime Minister's residence, which is located in the middle of the road. The Prime Minister's residence and Kharge's residence are about 5 meters away. 

The Samajwadi Party has said that the arrest of President Yadav while supporting the student protest in Delhi is condemnable. It has also accused the BJP-led government of 'tyrants' and of killing democracy. Chairman Yadav said, ‘The BJP has not made its ministers resign because they are afraid that the minister who should resign will reveal the secret hidden by them.’

On Tuesday, MPs from various Left parties including Amra Ram, K Radhakrishna, John Brittas had also reached Jantar Mantar to protest against the ‘excessiveness’ of the Delhi Police. Similarly, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and MP Supriya Su had also reached Jantar Mantar to support the protest of students and youth. 

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) has also said that they fully support the demands of students, CJP and Sonam Wangchuk. Shiv Sena Youth Front chief Aditya Thackeray said, ‘BJP gets a headache when someone questions the education system. Perhaps this is what they call anti-social elements.’

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has sarcastically asked Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, ‘Doesn’t he know how to write a resignation letter!’ In X, she wrote, ‘It may be that the Education Minister does not know how to write a resignation letter. RSS only teaches him how to write a pardon petition.’

 AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has also commented that the government has been consistently showing similar behavior. ‘When the lawyers protested, similar repression was carried out. When the farmers protested, similar conditions prevailed at the Red Fort,’ he said. 

Meanwhile, according to the CJP, all those arrested during Monday’s protest have been released. The CJP says that the police released around a hundred protesters after widespread public pressure. Along with this, the CJP has also removed the sit-in in front of the Delhi Police headquarters. CJP founder Abhijit Deepke has said that Monday’s march has ended and has even apologized for the youth who were injured in the protest. At a press conference on Tuesday, he said, “We will not march again because the police will beat up the youth.”

Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta said the government is trying to evade accountability. “The government wants to use education not as a medium of knowledge and awareness, but only as an ideological weapon to impose its ideas,” he told Kantipur.

Delhi Police claims that 118 security personnel and 60 protesters were injured in Monday’s clashes. Deepke, however, said that more than 150 protesters were injured. 

Wangchuk shifted to Medanta

Social activist Sonam Wangchuk completed 24 days of her hunger strike on Tuesday. She was shifted from Safdarjung Hospital to Medanta on Tuesday. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed Wangchuk to be shifted from Safdarjung Hospital to a private hospital in Medanta as per her choice. 

According to ‘Live Law Hindi’, the court said that Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike for a long time and his health should be monitored continuously as per the advice of doctors. A bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Kariya heard the writ petition filed by Wangchuk’s wife Dr. Geetanjali Angmo and allowed his transfer to Medanta. 

Dr. Geetanjali had appealed against the previous single bench order not allowing Wangchuk to be taken to a private hospital. ‘Live Law’ mentioned that during the hearing, the bench discussed the opinions of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung Hospital and Wangchuk’s personal doctor.

‘After discussions with the reports and doctors, it is clear that Wangchuk needs continuous monitoring. As per Dr. Tandon’s opinion, he should be kept under observation in the hospital. The concerns expressed in Wangchuk’s letter should also be taken into consideration. Therefore, we have proposed to send him to Medanta Hospital as per his wishes,' the court said. 

Attorney General Tushar Mehta, who appeared in the court on behalf of the central government, had said that the government had no objection to taking Wangchuk to Medanta Hospital. He had said that Wangchuk should not have left the hospital against the doctor's advice. 

Educationist and environmental activist Wangchuk, who was on an indefinite hunger strike, was taken to the hospital by Delhi Police from the place of his hunger strike on Saturday. After that, on Monday, the CJP had called for a march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament House. But security personnel had made arrests and stopped him in the middle. 

What did Modi say?

Amid protests for education system reforms and the resignation of the Education Minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement has also been made public. In a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi said that the government has taken strict action against those who 'leak' question papers. In the meeting named 'Mangal Milan', Prime Minister Modi said that the government took immediate action as soon as it received information about irregularities in the 'NEET' exam and 13 people were arrested and sent to jail, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju informed.

Quoting Prime Minister Modi, Minister Rijiju said, 'The exam was re-conducted keeping the future of the students in mind. The results have also been made public without any delay. Strict steps have been taken to prevent incidents like question paper leakage in the future.' He stressed that everyone should work together to build a completely safe and reliable examination system.

Earlier on Monday, CJP representatives met Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda. CJP spokespersons Saurabh Das and Ashutosh Ranka met Minister Nadda and presented their demands. They demanded the immediate release of Wangchuk, the resignation of Education Minister Pradhan, and a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of all NEET candidates who committed suicide. The CJP said that the protest will continue until these demands are met. 

The issue of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper leak, which is conducted for admission to MBBS, BDS and other undergraduate medical and health-related courses in India, is not new. The question paper has been leaked continuously for the past few years. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducts the NEET exam. This year, there was widespread protest after the question paper was leaked. The May 3 exam was then cancelled and re-conducted on June 21. Serious questions were also raised about the reliability of the exam results. According to the NTA, about 2 million people appeared for the exam.