Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Tuesday accused the main Opposition party Congress of “playing along” with the BJP, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government engaged swiftly with the Rahul Gandhi-led protest near his official residence even as it stonewalled Sonam Wangchuk and Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) agitations at Jantar Mantar for weeks.
Event Context
AAP MP Sanjay Singh, in a post on X, alleged Modi had got Rahul Gandhi to sit in protest “to weaken the CJP’s movement”.
Delhi Assembly Leader of Opposition Atishi, also of the AAP, drew a sharper contrast, writing that while the government had refused to talk to the CJP and Wangchuk through a month-long protest, it began dialogue with Congress “within an hour of Rahul Gandhi’s demonstration”.
The AAP, which emerged from a mass movement itself during Congress rule era in 2011-12 — just before Modi-led BJP stormed to power — has had an on-and-off relationship with the Congress while in Opposition together. It left the INDIA bloc last year, but has come on a common Opposition platform on some issues such as the alleged misuse of the Election Commission.
The Congress as a party stayed largely silent on the CJP, founded by an ex-AAP social media strategist Abhijeet Dipke, for over two weeks. Dipke and others in CJP have in the past criticised the Congress and Rahul, and have largely avoided amplifying support from or to the Congress on the common demand for Pradhan’s resignation. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi did not visit Wangchuk through the length of his fast, which drew jibes from Wangchuk himself and a rebuttal from Gujarat Congress leader Jignesh Mevani, even as Gandhi ran a parallel campaign, ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, on the same paper-leak and NEET grievances.
Delhi Police, meanwhile, registered FIRs at the Parliament Street and Connaught Place police stations over Monday’s violence, invoking charges including rioting, vandalism and obstructing government employees, and said around 70 protesters were detained.
In a statement, police said protesters had displayed “unruly, aggressive and violent behaviour”.
Police said around 60 protesters were also injured in the clashes, and that they were examining video and CCTV footage to identify those involved in stone-pelting and vandalism near Connaught Place.
Team Analysis
In a separate post, she said the same Delhi Police that stopped CJP protesters from “moving even 100 metres” towards Parliament during Monday’s march “let Gandhi reach the Prime Minister’s residence”. She called it evidence that the “Congress-BJP is one unit”.
Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh reached Rahul Gandhi’s dharna site and briefly spoke with him in a rare, swift government outreach to an unprecedented protest by the current Opposition.
Jitendra Singh later said the government was ready to discuss all NEET-related issues in Parliament, while adding that Gandhi’s conduct in staging the dharna did not align with democratic principles. The talks did not defuse the situation — Gandhi went on to appeal to “patriotic Indians” to join the protest, and Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force later forcibly removed and detained him along with other Congress MPs from the site.
Rahul’s official social media handles, meanwhile, posted some photos of the police action and wrote: “Modi ji, try with all your strength, exert all your might — this fight for justice for students cannot be stopped now.”
Eventually, Congress MP and spokesman Pawan Khera visited Jantar Mantar on July 17 to meet Wangchuk, marking the party’s first visible official participation in the protest.
Khera’s visit followed similar visits by Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav a day earlier, and came after questions were raised over Congress’s absence despite backing from other Opposition leaders and civil society figures.
The AAP’s charge came also against the backdrop of an escalating standoff between the government and the CJP, which had given a ‘Chalo Sansad’ call on Monday, the first day of the Monsoon Session, drawing thousands of protesters toward Parliament over irregularities in the education sector, including the NEET-UG paper leak, and demanding education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
Delhi Police and other security forces used batons and tear gas against the protesters, leaving dozens injured. Protesters regrouped at Jantar Mantar through the night into Tuesday.
Union minister JP Nadda met CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka on Monday for talks, but nothing has since come of that. Wangchuk, meanwhile, has been shifted from government-run Safdarjung Hospital to private facility Medanta upon court orders on his wife’s petition.
Asking for Pradhan’s resignation and “justice for the students” who faced police action, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other party MPs staged a sit-in outside Modi’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence on Tuesday.
The Congress MPs and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were subsequently detained by Delhi Police during the protest.
Separately, AAP’s own leadership visited the CJP site. National convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi also went to RML Hospital to meet those injured in Monday’s clashes. Rahul Gandhi did too, as did BJP’s Nadda.
The Congress issued a statement backing the student protesters.
Other opposition figures also visited Jantar Mantar through the day, including NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.
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Addressing the NDA’s parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, Modi termed the NEET paper leak a “grave sin” and said those held responsible should face the harshest possible punishment, according to Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who briefed reporters after the meeting.
The Prime Minister, according to Rijiju, said the issue should not become one of partisan politics and asked NDA MPs to assure students that the government would protect their interests, while also cautioning them against what he called opposition attempts to mislead students.
