Congress accuses govt of denying Azad Maidan to protesting tribal students, alleges police intimidation
Congress says the government wronged tribal students by refusing permission at Azad Maidan, and alleges police entered its Tilak Bhavan office in Dadar to intimidate them.
The agitation by tribal students has heated up Maharashtra politics again. Congress has alleged that the government wronged the students by denying them permission to protest at Azad Maidan. The party claims everyone has the right to protest in a democracy, yet the government and police are suppressing the students' voice.
According to Congress, the students had demanded that they either be allowed to protest at Azad Maidan or be helped to meet the Governor. The party alleges the police harassed the students over this demand and eventually detained them.
The students' demands have also come out. The tribal students have sought an impartial inquiry into the deaths of students in ashram schools. They have also demanded the resignation of the Tribal Development Minister and the transfer of the Tribal Commissioner. The students want children in ashram schools to get basic facilities and the quality of food supplied from the central kitchen to improve.
The students say 600 ashram school students have died in the past two years. They want an impartial inquiry into this claim.
To draw the government's attention to their demands, the tribal students took out a long march from Nashik towards Mumbai. They say their agitation has completed 48 days. Congress alleges that when the long march neared Mumbai, the police tried to stop the students. The party also said some students were detained.
Congress had arranged for the students to stay at its Tilak Bhavan office in Dadar. The party alleges that police tried to detain the students there in the middle of the night. Congress also alleges that the police entered the party office and threatened the students. It claims a large police presence and a convoy of vehicles were deployed outside Tilak Bhavan.
Congress leaders asked why the police entered the party office. The party claims it received no satisfactory answer from the police.
Congress alleges that the BJP government is carrying out repression by putting the police in front. Its leaders warned that this repression would not be tolerated. The party made it clear that it stands firmly with the tribal students and will continue to back their fight.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has also backed the tribal students' demands. Rahul Gandhi said the Congress party stands with the students in this fight. Meanwhile, the exchange of charges and counter-charges in the state over the students' demands, the role of the police and Congress's allegations is likely to intensify.
