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Open to talks, govt tells Oppn; gives no timeline on discussion with CJP
The Centre on Tuesday reached out to the Opposition, particularly the Congress, to call off the stir demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, assuring that a discussion on the issue of paper leaks would be taken up in the ongoing monsoon session
The Centre on Tuesday reached out to the Opposition, particularly the Congress, to call off the stir demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, assuring that a discussion on the issue of paper leaks would be taken up in the ongoing monsoon session. The government also said it was open to talks with the students and representatives of the Cockroach Janata Party, protesting against irregularities in competitive examinations, but neither gave an assurance to meet the demands nor set a time frame for the next rounds of meetings, said people aware of the details.
The developments came on a day Congress leaders, led by lawmaker Rahul Gandhi, protested outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, demanding Pradhan’s resignation.
“Our doors are open for talks. We have already informed them (representatives of the CJP) that their demands will be discussed at the appropriate forum… for now we have not decided when the next meeting will take place nor are we giving any assurances (of meeting the demands)..” said a senior government functionary.
The government quickly dispatched minister of state in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, to speak to the Congress leaders, who refused to call off their stir.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Nabin criticised the Congress for protesting outside the PM’s residence, calling it an “attempt to incite anarchy.”
“The conduct displayed today by LoP Rahul Gandhi is entirely unbecoming and condemnable. His behavior clearly demonstrates that he does not take the dignity of the Leader of the Opposition’s office seriously... We have consistently maintained that Rahul Gandhi is emerging as a symbol of anarchy. Certain parliamentary offices do not belong to any single party; the Prime Minister is not merely the leader of one party but the elected representative of 1.4 billion citizens,” he said.
“Today’s incident is undoubtedly unfortunate—a dark day in India’s political history. We, too, have served in the Opposition for long periods, yet we never breached such boundaries... When Rahul Gandhi set conditions, they were accepted. Yet, it is unfortunate that a person holding the office of LoP backs out once the process moves forward,” he added.
To be sure, the BJP demonstrated outside then PM Manmohan Singh’s house in 2013.
On Monday, Union minister JP Nadda had met two CJP representatives, who submitted a written memorandum demanding the resignation of Pradhan, among other things. “This morning, for the first time, a proposal came from the protesters to hold talks with the government, and our discussions have been ongoing since 11:50am. The meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere. An initial verbal discussion was held in detail with their delegation, and they submitted a written petition to me around 4pm. I have requested all the protesters to end their sit-in and assist the administration in restoring normalcy,” Nadda had written on X.
A BJP leader said the Opposition was trying to foster unrest. “It was clear from yesterday’s meeting (JP Nadda met the CJP representatives) that the government is listening. The students have demanded the resignation of a minister who has already taken steps to ensure that examinations are conducted fairly. It is clear that the students are being misled…and when the Opposition realised that the students’ concerns are being addressed, they chose disruption,” said the leader.
The BJP leader referred to Modi’s instruction to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lawmakers to reach out to the students as an indication of the government seeking to address their concerns.
