New Delhi: While the INDIA partners may have certain ideological differences, these will not stop the Opposition parties from making joint efforts to prevent the country’s education system from falling into the hands of the RSS and the BJP, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said Monday.
He made the remarks while addressing a protest against the Centre’s education policies led by student organisations of the INDIA bloc at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Gandhi’s tacit acknowledgement of differences within the bloc comes at a time when the coalition partners have even stopped coordinating the drawing up of strategies for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
“You are the students of INDIA bloc. There can be some ideological differences between us, or in terms of policies. But there cannot be any compromise on India’s education system. We will march ahead together step by step and defeat the RSS and BJP,” Gandhi said at the protest.
LIVE: Parliament March | Jantar Mantar, New Delhi https://t.co/Vakp6aBXpx
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 24, 2025
Apart from the Congress’s National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the protest saw the participation of representatives of 11 student bodies, including CPM’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI), CPIML’s All India Students Association (AISA), CPI’s All India Students’ Federation (AISF), SP’s Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, RJD’s Chhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal and IUML’s Muslim Students Federation among others.
The student bodies also presented a memorandum on the National Education Policy, 2020, the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, and competitive exam paper leaks to Gandhi.
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No meeting of Oppn floor leaders yet
This is significant because during the ongoing budget session of the Parliament, not a single meeting of the floor leaders of opposition parties has taken place so far. During previous sessions, joint strategies were developed by the opposition parties at such meetings to take on the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Outside the House too, several INDIA bloc parties have put the Congress on the dock for “failing” to show a spirit of accommodation in seat-sharing for assembly polls in various states. The Congress’s defeats in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections, coupled with dismal performances in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi, have only aggravated the party’s woes.
In his speech, Gandhi alleged that RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, was singularly responsible for continuing to “ruin” India’s education system and, consequently, its future.
“If the education system goes into their hands, the country will be ruined. People will not get jobs. All the vice-chancellors are RSS nominated. And in the coming days, even state university VCs will be nominated by the RSS,” Gandhi said. “This is dangerous for the country. We need to stop them.”
Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying while the latter spoke about the Kumbh Mela in the Parliament, he should also address the concerns of the youth on unemployment, “which is the country’s biggest issue”.
“They did not allow me to speak (in Lok Sabha) but I wanted to say that while it’s nice to talk about Kumbh Mela, he should also talk about the future of the country. He should speak against unemployment,” he added. “But he does not do that. Because their model is to hand over the country’s resources to Adani and Ambani and the educational institutions to RSS.”
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
