Indian police detained opposition leader Rahul Gandhi during protests in New Delhi demanding changes to the education system and the removal of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Gandhi had called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign before joining a sit-in outside the prime minister’s residence.
Video showed officers carrying Gandhi and other lawmakers through a crowd and placing them aboard a bus. Protesters tried to reach the vehicle amid chaotic scenes as it departed. Gandhi, who leads the Congress Party and serves as opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, later shared images of the removal and said the protest campaign would continue.
The demonstrations were organised by the fast-growing online Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, and had drawn thousands of people into the capital for a second day. Participants linked their demands to repeated examination scandals and called for Pradhan’s resignation as well as wider education reforms. Many remained at the Jantar Mantar protest site despite rain and the previous day’s police crackdown.
Tensions had already produced large clashes. Police said 60 civilians and 118 officers were injured. Protesters threw stones after security forces used tear gas and batons, while organisers said the number of demonstrators hurt was in the hundreds, exceeding the official count. Additional security personnel were deployed after stone-throwing was reported near Jantar Mantar on Tuesday evening.
The confrontation also disrupted Parliament. Proceedings were adjourned after opposition lawmakers sought a debate on what they described as brutality against students. Gandhi accused the government of avoiding both accountability and parliamentary discussion. Modi had not directly addressed the protests in the supplied account.
The government defended its response to the underlying exam problems. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said authorities had moved quickly following paper leaks and made several arrests. He also said Modi had asked allies in a private meeting to develop a system capable of preventing future irregularities.
One scandal involved 2.2 million prospective medical students, who took a new examination under strict security after an earlier test was cancelled because its question paper leaked. A separate controversy concerned online marking for tests completed by almost two million secondary-school students.
Since launching in May, the CJP had amassed millions of social-media followers. Its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, urged supporters at the protest site not to be discouraged, while a spokesman said the government had yet to answer the movement’s demands.
The detention brought a senior national political figure directly into a youth-led protest that had begun with concerns about testing integrity. It also widened the dispute from education policy into questions about policing, government accountability and the opposition’s ability to force a parliamentary debate.
