Veteran BJP Leader Murli Manohar Joshi and Anna Hazare Condemn Police Action on Students at Jantar Mantar, Urge Empathy
Sunil Negi
New Delhi: As thousands of students continue to camp at Jantar Mantar demanding accountability for the NEET paper leak and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, veteran BJP leader and former Union HRD Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi has strongly condemned the lathicharge and tear gas shelling on protesters, calling for the government to address their concerns with empathy.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Joshi said it was “painful” to see young people forced to spend days on the streets of the national capital.
“It is painful to see young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi.
Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution,” he wrote.
Joshi, who headed the Human Resource Development Ministry and has long been associated with education policy in the BJP, did not name any minister but his remarks came amid mounting criticism of the police crackdown on Monday’s “Sansad Chalo” march.
Several students and police personnel have been injured in the clashes over the last three days, with a 21-year-old woman protester still under observation at RML Hospital after being taken off ventilator support.
Joining the chorus, India Against Corruption crusader Anna Hazare also issued a statement from his village in Ralegan Siddhi, expressing concern over the treatment of students.
“The youth are the future of this country. When they come out peacefully to raise issues of paper leaks and injustice in the examination system, they should not be met with lathis.
The government must sit with them, listen to them, and resolve the matter instead of using force,” Hazare said. He added that “democracy means dialogue, not danda” and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally intervene to ensure students are not harassed.
The statements by two senior voices — one from within the ruling establishment and the other from the anti-corruption movement — add to the pressure on the Centre as the protest enters its fourth day.
At Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, students continued their sit-in with tents, speakers and medical camps. Organisers said the crowd had grown with aspirants arriving from Haryana, UP and Rajasthan.
The stir was triggered by alleged irregularities in NEET-UG 2026 and by reports of over 20 student suicides in recent months. Protesters are demanding a judicial probe, Rs 1 crore compensation for bereaved families, and Pradhan’s resignation.
On the government side, *Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Dr. Jitendra Singh* said on Wednesday that the government has “no prestige issue” and is ready to meet students at their offices or residences. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, on the 25th day of his hunger strike at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, said he would break his fast if the government assures that peaceful protesters will not face cases or harassment.
In Parliament, INDIA bloc MPs led by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav protested the police action, while Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused sections of the media of ignoring questions to the Education Minister.
With senior BJP leaders, civil society figures and the Opposition now calling for restraint, all eyes are on whether the government’s offer of talks will lead to a resolution at Jantar Mantar, where the barricades remain up and the slogans demanding accountability have only grown louder.
