Rahul Gandhi detained from protest near Indian PM Modi's house

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, who was sitting on a protest outside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence over alleged police brutality against students during yesterday’s march to the Indian parliament, was forcibly removed from the protest site.

The police also removed other Congress leaders who were staging the protest against the crackdown on Cockroach Janata Party protesters, reports The Statesman.

The action follows the Modi government’s unsuccessful efforts to convince the Congress leader to end his protest.

Earlier, Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh met Rahul at the protest site, and informed him that his demand for a Parliament discussion on NEET issue has been accepted.

However, according to Singh, Rahul backtracked and sought assurance for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.

“Rahul Gandhi put forward the demand that if the government agrees to discuss in parliament all issues related to NEET and the associated movement, he would immediately end his sit-in. Within a few moments, after taking permission from the government’s top leadership, Shri Rahul Gandhi was assured that his demand has been accepted, and the government is ready to discuss in Parliament all issues related to NEET and the associated movement,” Singh said.

However, when Rahul was told that the government had agreed to his demand, he allegedly sought assurance for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

“He said that now I have two demands: discussion in Parliament and the resignation of the Union Education Minister,” Singh said.

According to Singh, when Rahul was reminded that earlier he had only demanded discussion, the Congress leader allegedly said that his demands have changed, prompting the police to use force and remove the Congress leaders.