Distance from ‘cockroach’, then how did Congress come to the center of student movement? Government on backfoot, ruckus outside PM residence How did Congress, distanced from the “cockroaches,” find itself at the center of the student movement? The government is on the back foot, leading to a commotion outside the Prime Minister’s residence.

In politics, the game of time and strategy is considered the biggest. The entire politics depends on which move to make at what time. The timely and aggressive manner in which Congress has taken up the issue of NEET paper leak and student anger has put the BJP government at the Center on the back foot. Even though Congress may have been seen distancing itself from some platforms in the beginning, now the party has emerged as the main center of this nationwide student movement.

Initially it had kept distance from the movement, now took charge. After the issue of NEET paper leak came to light, Congress prepared the outline of a nationwide movement and started programs like ‘Students’ Echo’. However, initially the party was maintaining distance from the Jantar Mantar movement of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). A large section within the party believed that the protests could be sponsored. This was the reason that when Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Kheda reached Jantar Mantar after CJP’s appeal, he was limited to only Sonam Wangchuk who was on hunger strike and the party did not openly support him. Apart from this, Congress had also exercised restraint on this in the meeting of opposition parties just before the monsoon session of Parliament.

The Parliament march and the influx of youth changed the stance of Congress. During the Parliament march on Monday, a large number of students and youth from different states of the country took to the streets and the protests continued throughout the day, completely changed the political equation. This gave a clear message to the Congress that there is a lot of anger and resentment against the government among the youth of the country. Recognizing this pulse, Congress changed its stance and decided to give a new edge to the movement. After this, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge started raising this issue with full force inside and outside the Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to seek legal help and strong demonstration near PM’s residence to pressurize the government for immediate discussion in Parliament. Along with this, Congress directed its legal team to provide all possible legal and medical help to the youth detained or injured in police action during the protests. Under this strategy, on Tuesday, many big leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sat on a dharna near the Prime Minister’s residence in violation of prohibitory order (Section 144), after which Delhi Police detained them for a few hours and released them later in the night. After this high-profile drama, it has now become clear that Congress is fully prepared to capitalize on this youth anger as a big political weapon after the Lok Sabha elections.