Bengaluru Rally Supports Delhi Student Protests, Calls for Minister's Resignation

Hundreds of students, parents, working professionals, and activists gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Thursday to express solidarity with the ongoing protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The demonstration called for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak and the fast undertaken by climate and education activist Sonam Wangchuk.

The protest was organised by the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS), with support from organisations such as the All India Students Association (AISA), the All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), and political parties including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP). Participants raised slogans and lit candles as night fell, using mobile phone torches to illuminate the gathering.

Placards carried by protesters used wordplay to convey their demands. One pregnant woman held a sign reading, “Pregnancy craving: Accountability.” A child on her father’s shoulders displayed a placard that said, “Dharmendra uncle, please get up from the chair. I want a better education system.” Another read, “The kids are here to school you.”

Naman, a theatre artist, carried a placard and a rod symbolising the lathis used by police against protesters in Delhi. He said, “I was part of the protest in Delhi on July 21, but when the police took out their lathis and started charging, I ran off. Today, I am holding this placard and rod so that anyone can come hit me with this rod. I will not run away in fear but continue to question the government.” He is in Bengaluru for a performance of the play The Big M of Madness, in which he plays a role.

B.T. Lalitha Naik, author and former minister, who participated in the protest, said, “NEET and the National Testing Agency must be scrapped by the Central government. Students and parents will be happy if they bring back the old system of States conducting entrance exams for admissions to MBBS programmes.”

Ganga, a student pursuing a Master’s in Economics at St. Joseph’s College and a member of AISA, said the protests across the nation will continue until the Education Minister resigns. “We have four demands: Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, scrapping of NEET and centralised entrance exams, abolition of NTA and the National Education Policy (NEP), and an end to commercialisation and saffronisation of education,” she said.