Mumbai, Aug 1 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to the youth who faced police action in New Delhi during the NEET protests and also to families of students who died by suicide following the paper leak.

"Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah should apologise to students and their families because of the way students were bashed up with sticks fitted with nails, pellet guns and tear gassed....some male police tore clothes of women protesters," Thackeray told reporters here.

The police action has left a lasting impression on their minds, the former Maharashtra chief minister said.

The reforms brought in by the government after the paper leak could have been done when protests began. The government does not feel anything to talk to Pakistan and terrorists but not to the future (youth), Thackeray said.

Modi on Friday said he and even his late mother were subjected to abusive language at Jantar Mantar during the protests over alleged NEET irregularities, but asserted that dragging such "misguided children" into court would not resolve the problem and hence, he wanted to forgive them.

"There is a need to apologise and not forgive. How will the youth forgive you? You first call them cockroach and then you call them misguided," Thackeray said in a swipe at the PM.

Thackeray said the language used by youth during the protests could be questionable. However, the language used by "namo rugna" (staunch followers of Modi) should also be blamed for the way they troll, he pointed out.

On National Security Advisor Ajit Doval receiving the Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2026 at an event in Pune from Shah, Thackeray said Lokmanya is known as the father of Indian unrest.

But Modi and Shah are fathers of the unrest against their own government, he opined.

(PTI)

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.