Author name: OnlineAge

NEW DELHI : The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Wednesday announced a nationwide agitation beginning in Pune on June 11 and warned of an indefinite sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar from June 20 if Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan does not resign. The group said in a statement that protests will be held across several cities, including Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Hyderabad, while CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said in a post on X that climate activist Sonam Wangchuk will join the Pune demonstration on Thursday. The CJP said protests will continue until Pradhan steps down, alleging repeated failures in the conduct of examinations and demanding accountability from the minister. Calling it a national issue affecting millions of students and families, the group said, “The Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has failed to take responsibility for these repeated failures. Accountability must begin at the top. That is why we reiterate our demand: Dharmendra Pradhan should resign.” It said if the government fails to act on the demand, “the youth of this country will gather together on June 20 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for an indefinite peaceful sit-in protest till the minister resigns”. Describing itself as a movement to defend the integrity of India’s education system, the CJP invited students, parents, teachers and citizens to join what it called a nationwide struggle for accountability and justice. The announcement came days after the CJP organised a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on June 6, where students and young people from different parts of the country gathered to press for accountability over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations and to seek Pradhan’s resignation. The group has gained visibility in recent weeks through social media campaigns centred on examination-related issues and has sought to position itself as a youth-led platform advocating reforms in the education sector. Organisers had described the June 6 mobilisation as the beginning of a larger nationwide campaign, with Wednesday’s announcement outlining the next phase of protests across multiple cities and a proposed indefinite sit-in in the national capital. (Source: PTI)      

NEW DELHI : The Congress on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he may have passed a “self-proclaimed and dubiously invented” milestone but he is a “millstone” around India’s neck, presiding over the “murder of democracy”. The opposition party’s attack came as Modi became India’s longest continuously serving elected prime minister. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister of India on August 15, 1947 presiding over a stellar Cabinet – the likes of which have rarely been seen in the world. Over the next five years, modern India came into being, he said on X. “Over 560 princely states were integrated peacefully into the Indian Union, the Constitution of India was debated and adopted, zamindari was abolished, reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were put in place, a number of multipurpose irrigation-cum-power projects were launched, the infrastructure for science and technology capability was established (including in nuclear energy), and India emerged as a force in global affairs,” Ramesh said. Electoral rolls bearing 170 million registered voters were prepared to ensure universal adult franchise and free India’s first General Elections were held between October 1951 and February 1952, he said. “The 1947-52 record of achievements of India with Nehru as PM and in which stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Dr Ambedkar, Dr Rajendra Prasad, C Rajagopalachari, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad played such a pivotal role is now sought to be erased by Mr Modi who has a pathological fixation on Nehru,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications alleged. “He (Modi) may have passed a self-proclaimed and dubiously invented milestone today but he is a millstone around India’s neck, presiding as he is over the Murder of Democracy in India,” Ramesh alleged. The very same establishments of democracy — an independent Election Commission and a sacrosanct voter list — are now threatened, he claimed. “Scientific temper has been erased through the destruction of our educational institutions as exposed most recently by the NEET-CBSE scandals. Reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes have been weakened through privatisation and nefarious instruments like ‘Not Found Suitable’,” Ramesh said. And while Nehru won in 1952, 1957, and 1962 with a hugely decisive majority, Modi “did not secure even a simple majority by a considerable margin in 2024 and had to hurriedly convene a NDA meeting bypassing the BJP Parliamentary Party to anoint himself as PM,” Ramesh said, adding that “2024 was most certainly not a mandate for him”. Modi on Wednesday became the longest continuously serving elected prime minister of India, breaking the record of Nehru. Modi crosses the record of Nehru’s 4,399 days in power as an elected prime minister following the 1952 general elections. Nehru’s stint from 1947 to 1952 was as head of an interim government as elections were not held till 1952. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had a tenure of 14 years, more than that of Modi, but her prime ministership was not uninterrupted. By surpassing Nehru’s 4,399-day record, Modi became the longest-serving elected prime minister of India. On May 26, 2014, Modi took charge as India’s prime minister with a landslide victory. He got re-elected with a bigger mandate in 2019 and his second term began on May 30 of the same year. His third consecutive term started on June 9, 2024.