Rajasthan Minister Says Police Could Have Acted More Harshly at Jantar Mantar Protest

Rajasthan School Education Minister Madan Dilawar has said that the police response to the ongoing protest by the 'Cockroach Janta Party' (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi was insufficient, given the protesters' actions. Speaking to journalists in Jaipur, Dilawar stated, “I believe that the manner in which there was hooliganism, the response was less.”

This remark comes two months after Dilawar dismissed the NEET paper leak as “not a big deal”. In his latest comments, he argued that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should not resign “due to the pressure from hooligans”.

Dilawar praised the police for showing restraint, saying, “The police exercised great restraint. Given the acts they were committing, they deserved exactly that kind of treatment.” He distinguished between genuine NEET aspirants and the protesters, alleging that anti-social elements had infiltrated the protest and were defaming hard-working students.

“You will be surprised to know that the NEET aspirants, who had appeared for the examination and wanted to be doctors, couldn’t have done such an act. They are good people. But some hoodlums and goondas defamed them; some traitors infiltrated it and they think wrong of the nation. What were the slogans? You will be surprised: ‘We want freedom from India’, ‘It’s not Make in India but Lick in India’ – what do they want to say? ‘My gender, my choice, I can wear anything,’ ‘Restore Article 370’, ‘We want freedom from Hindutva’; they indulged in slogans against Lord Ram, insulted mother Sita,” he said.

He further claimed that those “who want freedom from India and are indulging in Allahu Akbar slogans, there are talks of breaking up the nation, have joined the tukde-tukde gang: they can’t ever be with the country.” Dilawar also alleged that protesters were “stripping and exposing their body parts in front of women,” questioning whether that was the work of students.

Dilawar accused the Opposition of being “tired” and knowing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot be defeated, leading them to hatch a “conspiracy” where bullets are fired at them and the government is defamed. “The people of the country are very happy with the PM as there is all-round development in the country and it is touching new heights. They think that since he can’t be defeated – and they are tired too – so they want to level allegations so that bullets are fired and there is a lathi charge, so that it is defamed across the country; there is a conspiracy. Maybe they want to do a repeat of Sri Lanka and Nepal, but this is Hindustan. Even thinking this would be sin,” he said.

When asked about his own resignation following the collapse of a school building in Jhalawar last year, Dilawar said he would resign “the day the CM asks me to.” On the Congress protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence, he alleged that “they must have hatched a conspiracy to hurt the prime minister, so that they can cause some untoward incident.”

Dilawar highlighted that when the NEET paper leaked, the government identified the guilty and put them in jail. With fast-track courts announced by PM Modi, he said the guilty will be given the strictest punishment. He also noted that around a dozen-and-a-half question papers had leaked during the previous Ashok Gehlot government, and the then Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra had said the education minister isn’t responsible. “What has changed now? So, I want to ask the Congress, Leftists and the AAPiyas on what basis are you seeking the resignation of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan?”