Jharkhand protest: Rahul Gandhi urges Hemant Soren to meet protesting students and resolve their issue

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has urged Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to personally meet students protesting alleged irregularities in State recruitment examinations.

In a letter dated August 14, Mr. Gandhi said the students’ demands were legitimate, and their peaceful protest deserved the government’s support.

Mr. Gandhi alleged that India’s education system had been “captured by the RSS and the BJP” and turned into a tool for “exploitation and oppression” of students. It was no longer, he said, the robust knowledge system it had been a decade ago.

Referring to Jharkhand, he said students in the State had also been protesting alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations. Their protest had been peaceful and their demands legitimate, he said, while appreciating that the Jharkhand government had initiated a dialogue with them through a committee instituted by Mr. Soren.

“I believe that there is also agreement on several demands raised by the students,” Mr. Gandhi said. However, he noted that the protests were continuing and that some students remained on an indefinite hunger strike.

Mr. Gandhi suggested that Mr. Soren personally meet representatives of the protesting students, saying such a meeting would help reinforce the government’s commitment to resolving their remaining concerns.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the Congress believed that the constitutional right to peaceful protest was “one of the central pillars” of Indian democracy. He said the party had extended its full support to students protesting paper leaks and irregularities in the education system over the past few months.

“The youth of India is its future. We owe them our solidarity and support at this moment of crisis,” Mr. Gandhi said, urging the Chief Minister to hear the students out and take appropriate action to resolve the issue.

Mr. Gandhi’s intervention comes amid continuing protests by students over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand’s recruitment examinations. The State government has sought to address their grievances through a committee and dialogue.