Students in Jalandhar held a huge protest in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party and the students' stir in Delhi.
Hundreds of students gathered at the PUDA ground opposite the DC Complex in Jalandhar and also held a march on the Ladowali Road in the evening. A protest primarily hosted by students from all walks of life, the call for the protest march was given on Instagram, and it saw a microcosm of the protest being hosted at Delhi.
Students carried posters seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and the tent where the protest was being hosted rang out in cheers after news spread of the resignation of the minister this evening.
Students raised slogans “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram” while holding the protests. Many of the posters bearing the PM’s and Dharmendra Pradhan’s faces bore striking similarities to the cheeky wit of the posters on display in Delhi.
A big poster at the venue read - “We are the Voice they can’t ignore! – United for Justice, United for future!”
As students marched, a bunch of students trailed on a tractor, and “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola” played on a loudspeaker and a protester in a Spiderman mask atop the tractor raised slogans. Volunteers of the Tera Tera Hatti conducted Jal sewa for protesting students and commuters at the spot all day.
Even in the evening, when the protest came to a close, students stood ceremoniously as the National Anthem played on a loudspeaker.
Himanshu, a Jalandhar-based student, said, “I heard about the protest from my friend and joined it after hearing that one was hosted in Jalandhar too. We completely support the students’ protest at Delhi and the corruption within the education system needs to go. We welcome the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. We hope the government promptly responds to all the demands put forth by the students.”
A Jalandhar protester, Simran, said, “We were planning to head to Delhi today but stayed back hearing if the education Minister’s resignation. We will continue the protest here tomorrow.”
Amit Kumar, a student, one of the organisers of the protest, said, “The protest today was all in support of students protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. It is against the central government and against the Delhi police for the lathicharge against peaceful students who were just asking for their rights. It was a peaceful protest only by Jalandhar students, and no involvement of any political party. It was successfully concluded today. Dharmendra Pradhan has just submitted his resignation, but the results (of the student protests) are yet to be awaited. The protest isn’t just about the resignation but many more things - Equal education for all, quality education for all, transparent recruitments, as our posters also stated. We hope all these demands are immediately met by the government.”