New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi Thursday lent support to the ongoing student protests and criticised the use of ‘force’ during the ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest march called by Sonam Wangchuk and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
His comments come in the backdrop of force deployed by Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) during the protest march to Parliament on 20 July.
The 92-year-old in a post on X said it was “very painful to see that even young girls were brutally mishandled”. Such use of force, Joshi wrote, “shall alienate large sections of Indian society from the national goal of Viksit Bharat”.
The veteran BJP leader’s remarks come in the backdrop of massive protests that have erupted in parts of India, especially in New Delhi, over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and CJP’s demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The protests have come at a time when Parliament is in session.
It is painful to see young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi. Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution. I fervently…
— Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (@DrMurliManohar_) July 23, 2026
Murli Manohar Joshi, who served as Education Minister in the NDA government (1998-2004) led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said he was pained to see “young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi”.
“Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution,” he added.
He also said the issue must not be viewed through the prism of law-and-order alone. “I fervently hope that this is not treated merely as a law-and-order issue to be tackled through the use of force,” he wrote.
The Jantar Mantar protests spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have highlighted the anger evident among students and parents across the country over the state of education in India.
The Narendra Modi government has urged the Opposition to discuss the matter in Parliament, terming it the appropriate forum for such issues.
While the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had issued a statement on the matter Wednesday, the RSS has yet to comment on the protests.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced setting up fast-track courts to deal with paper leak cases.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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