Opposition rallies behind protesters, Rahul Gandhi holds sit-in outside PM residence

Gandhi was taken to Chhatrasal Stadium in the Model Town area and Vadra to Mandir Marg police station. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi reached the Mandir Marg police station while Congress workers showed up at the Chhatrasal stadium.

In a video released late on Tuesday night after his release, Gandhi said the entire Opposition wants a discussion on the “biggest issue” on Wednesday. In his “suggestion” to PM Modi as the LoP, Gandhi said the PM should apologise to students for “what was done by his government and Home Minister on Monday”.

The government said it had agreed to Gandhi’s demand for a discussion in Parliament on the issue of paper leaks, but he later went back on his word and insisted that Pradhan must resign.

Late at night, Pradhan, in a post on X, hit out at Gandhi and the Congress, saying they “continue to shamelessly exploit students as political tools to manufacture disruption during the Monsoon Session of Parliament”.

“To weaken the CJP’s dharna, Modi ji has allowed Rahul Gandhi to protest outside his residence,” alleged AAP MP Sanjay Singh. (Photo: Congress)

Criticising them for “causing inconvenience to the public and disregarding established security protocols” by staging a dharna outside the PM’s residence, he said, “Even after the Government conveyed its readiness for a comprehensive discussion, the Congress chose political spectacle over democratic debate. Their objective was never solutions for students, it was disruption for political headlines. For Rahul Gandhi, this is not about students. This is about manufacturing confrontation after every genuine avenue for discussion has been opened.”

“Our Government remains 100% committed to discussing NEET and addressing every genuine concern of our youth on the floor of the House. The students of India deserve far better than being treated as props in a political campaign. They deserve certainty over chaos, solutions over slogans and responsibility over disruption. We owe our students more than outrage. We owe them answers, reforms and accountability. That is exactly what our government remains committed to delivering,” Pradhan said.

Rahul Gandhi distributes zip ties among Congress leaders outside PM’s residence on Tuesday.

A secret plan

In the afternoon, hours after Gandhi and Vadra visited injured protesters at the RML Hospital, Congress MPs received a message from AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal asking them to “reach 10, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi at 3 pm today … to formally greet Congress president on his birthday.”

When they showed up at Kharge’s residence, they were told about the march to the PM’s residence. It left some of the MPs surprised, one of whom told The Indian Express that the leaders didn’t tell them in advance about the sit-in because they didn’t want to alert the police.

“We were all called to Kharge Ji’s residence to wish him on his birthday. There, we were told that there is a protest outside the PM’s residence and that we all have to go there,” the MP said.

A Congress leader being removed from the protest site outside PM Narendra Modi’s house, in Delhi, on Tuesday. (Photo: Congress)

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan was in Kerala House when he came to know about the sit-in and joined his colleagues. But he left after some time.

Outside the PM’s residence, Gandhi was seen handing zip ties to his party colleagues so that they could tie their wrists and make it difficult for the police to remove them. In a social media post from the protest site, Gandhi urged “every patriotic Indian who believes our students deserve justice” to join the dharna.

“An attack on students is an attack on every Indian family. Prime Minister Modi thinks he can escape without giving answers, without facing any consequences – he won’t be able to, not at all this time,” he said in the post on X.

Following his call, NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav joined the protest.

Rahul did not keep his word: Minister

The government dispatched Minister of State Jitendra Singh to speak to Gandhi. Singh said Gandhi initially demanded that the government agree to a discussion in Parliament on the NEET issue and the ongoing protest at Jantar Mantar.

“Within a few moments, after taking permission from the government’s top leadership, Shri Rahul Gandhi was assured that his demand had been accepted… the government is ready to discuss in Parliament all issues related to NEET and the associated movement,” Singh wrote on X.

According to Singh, when Gandhi was informed about this, he went back on his word and sought an assurance on Pradhan’s resignation. “When an attempt was made to humbly explain to him that for a senior leader like him to backtrack from his word so quickly does not befit him, he said that it is his prerogative. When the Home Secretary tried to explain that this site is not suitable for a sit-in, his response was that it is also his prerogative to sit wherever he wants,” he said.

Hours later, the police moved in to detain the Opposition leaders and took them away in buses.

The AAP, however, targeted the Congress, claiming that its dharna was an attempt to divert attention from the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest. AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, “To weaken the CJP’s dharna, Modi ji has allowed Rahul Gandhi to protest outside his residence.”

Following the massive assembly of youth in the heart of the Capital Monday, the sense in the Congress was that it could not allow a public perception that the CJP was spearheading the movement against paper leaks and examination irregularities, especially since Gandhi had been raising the same set of issues for a while and had held two public engagements – in Kota in June and Dehradun last week.

In a way, the Congress was out to reclaim the space, especially since the protests Monday reflected the anger among a section of the youth. And that too when most of the non-Congress Opposition had rallied behind activist Sonam Wangchuk and the CJP.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Shiv Sena UBT’s Uddhav Thackeray were among Opposition leaders who visited the Jantar Mantar protest venue Tuesday.

Addressing the media in Parliament earlier, Gandhi targeted the Centre over the police action Monday. “The point is that this is no way to treat young people of this country. They don’t have any opportunities. All the doors are closed. Only one door is open – competitive exams. And that door is also destroyed. These students are not just complaining about the education system; they are complaining about their future,” he said.

Gandhi said the protests were not just about education. “This is bigger than education. This is young people saying we have no future in India. There is nothing wrong with this. And instead of saying, okay, we are going to improve the education system, we will work to fix the testing system. I don’t know what the Prime Minister is doing. That is the story,” he said.

Gandhi said that while Pradhan must resign, the government’s accountability does not end there. “He should resign. But Dharmendra Pradhan hasn’t beaten up the students; the Home Minister has, and he should resign, and the Home Minister reports to the PM, who should also resign,” he said.