Kurukshetra, Haryana (PTI): Congress leaders and workers held protests at various district headquarters in Haryana on Wednesday over the issue of paper leaks and the police action against youngsters participating in a march to Parliament two days ago.
They also held protests against the detention of Congress leaders after party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others, staged a dharna outside Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's official residence in New Delhi on Tuesday.
In Kurukshetra, the Congress workers held a demonstration in front of the District Mini Secretariat. Similar protests were also staged at other places, including Panchkula.
The protesters raised slogans against Modi and demanded Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over alleged paper leaks.
In Kurukshetra, Haryana Congress president Rao Narender Singh, the party's Haryana in-charge Sanjay Dutt and a number of MLAs took part in the protest.
Later in the evening, another protest was staged in Panchkula, where Congress leaders and workers tried to lay siege to the state headquarters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but were stopped by police. Several leaders, including Dutt, were briefly detained.
Earlier in the day, addressing party workers during the protest in Kurukshetra, Singh accused the BJP government of suppressing democratic protests and alleged that Congress MLAs and office-bearers were detained on Tuesday evening while they were on their way to submit a memorandum to the governor over the NEET paper-leak issue and the treatment meted out to protesting youngsters in the national capital.
Singh said a Congress delegation was peacefully proceeding from the party office to meet the governor when police stopped and detained its members. He claimed that the leaders were kept at the Sector-17 police station until around midnight.
The state Congress chief demanded Pradhan's resignation, a detailed discussion on the alleged NEET paper leak in Parliament and the withdrawal of the criminal cases registered against students and youngsters protesting over the issue.
Congress's Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda said he is receiving calls from across the state about police detaining several party workers.
"I am receiving calls from across Haryana that Congress, Youth Congress and NSUI workers are being taken into custody by police," Hooda said in a post in Hindi on X.
"I will say just one thing to the Haryana chief minister and DGP: either release all our workers as soon as possible or else, the kind of demonstration that was just a 'trailer' in Kurukshetra will now be witnessed across Haryana," he added.
Referring to the ongoing protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, Singh alleged that students demonstrating peacefully against irregularities in examinations were subjected to "excessive police action".
He also criticised the treatment meted out to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during his protest in support of students.
Singh said the alleged NEET paper leak has shattered the dreams of lakhs of students and their families, and questioned the BJP-led Centre over repeated incidents of paper leaks.
He demanded accountability from the education ministry and alleged that the government has failed to safeguard the interests of students.
The state Congress chief announced that his party would submit a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu through deputy commissioners in every district of Haryana.
He also alleged that farmers were prevented from holding protests and that false cases were registered against several protesters.
At Panchkula, the protesting Congress workers condemned the "injustice faced by students and the suppression of democratic rights".
They criticised the police action against youngsters participating in the march to Parliament organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday.
Thousands of youngsters, many of them students, converged near Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon session on Monday to push for Pradhan's resignation. Police resorted to lathi-charge and firing tear-gas shells to stop the protesters.
Addressing the gathering in Panchkula, Dutt said instead of answering serious questions concerning the future of students, the Centre has chosen the path of repression and arrests.
Dutt said Pradhan should resign without any delay, Parliament should immediately hold a discussion on the issue of paper leaks and examination irregularities, and all FIRs lodged against students and protesters should be withdrawn.
He asserted that the Congress will continue its struggle for justice for students, a transparent examination system and the protection of democratic rights.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
