Echoes of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest march in the Capital were heard inside Parliament on Monday, as Opposition parties condemned the police crackdown and demanded a discussion on the NEET paper leak and education sector reforms. Mobile phone network jammers were used on Parliament premises, drawing criticism from members who said that they were not told about it.
Congress’s Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi speaks to The Indian Express on the events — inside and outside Parliament — as well as the party’s stance on the CJP protest. Excerpts:
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Q. With everything that happened on Monday, how does your party look at the CJP now?
If you remember, (LoP) Rahul Gandhi has offered words of solidarity and has also championed the cause that has been raised (by the CJP), which is the resignation of (Union Education Minister) Dharmendra Pradhan and reform of the Indian education system.
What has happened today in terms of the brutal assault on young people on the streets of Delhi is condemnable and shocking. It could have been avoided had the Prime Minister shown leadership and sacked Dharmendra Pradhan in the beginning, instead of making it an issue of ego or pride and being stubborn.
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Q: Why has the kind of mobilisation that happened on Monday not happened through any political platform, say the Congress or the INDIA bloc?
It is not a question of comparison. Many young people come to programmes of political parties. The turnout for the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme of the Congress as well as the turnout for the protest that our youth and student wings have organised has been extremely impressive. Also, students or young people who feel comfortable in a platform that is not directly affiliated to a political party have grown in size, and today we saw a vast number. Therefore, it is more important that on the issue of reform in the Indian education system, society, young people and Opposition political parties are on the same page.
If anybody is being tone-deaf in this entire matter, it is the BJP government.
Q: Some MPs complained that they were restricted within Parliament and the mobile network was jammed. What happened?
It was unfortunate that the parliamentarians were completely kept in the dark about the jamming of mobile networks. All of us noticed that we could not access news on social media, but we were not told about this decision to shut down the mobile networks. It was only when our fellow MPs were returning that we got to know the level of assault (on protesters) that was taking place. And suddenly we saw that security guards were running from one part of the Parliament complex to the other. We were not at all briefed about what was going on.
And yet when we went inside Parliament and when we demanded a discussion on this matter, the response from the government was most nonchalant. It was most non-serious. The ministers of the Modi government seemed to be smiling and laughing.
Q: Were there any differences among the Opposition parties which had gathered for a meeting in Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber today?
What we discussed in the morning meeting was simply what had taken place over the last few days – in the Business Advisory Committee meeting and the all-party meeting. The Opposition parties were all united on key political issues. …Today we were very much aware that young people were gathering outside Parliament… We wanted to press the issue of students as well as ensure that the Ram Mandir (donation row), which is another important issue, is also raised.
Q: What can we expect inside Parliament from Tuesday after what we’ve seen?
We can expect to see the Opposition continuing to press upon the government to take up the discussion on NEET. We want to know why the Prime Minister is so unwilling to change his education minister. We want to understand why PM Modi has such faith and confidence in Mr Pradhan, when the BJP is known to change their chief ministers three, four times in a state heading to elections.
And the longer they (the government) continue to remain aloof and arrogant, the more damage they will have to suffer in the future.