BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): A protest organised by National Students Union of India (NSUI) against the New Education Policy at the residence of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Thursday turned into a melee.
Kamal Nath, the Madhya Pradesh Congress President and former Chief Minister, condemned the police action. "Students were protesting peacefully to make their voice heard. They were demanding release of pending scholarships of tribal students while raising other issues. But Shivraj Singh Chouhan government beat up students brutally and arrested them," Nath said.
The state NSUI incharge Nitish Gaur told media that BJP government has slashed the scholarships of ST/SC and OBC students. Moreover, the BJP government in state and Centre are privatising education creating more hurdles in the way of poor students.
Students' associations along with NSUI, the youth wing of the Congress, have launched a protest against the new education policy and in a show of aggression they tried to reach the Chief Minister's official residence in Bhopal.
In fact, NSUI took out a rally to gherao Chief Ministerís House demanding to Save the Education, Save the Nation. The rally was stopped at Red Cross square.
The rally that started from PCC office moved towards CM house. The police had set up barricades at Red Cross hospital. The police stopped the NSUI members and asked them to return but the members tried to break the barricade. They had an altercation with police personnel and reportedly threw stones at police. Soon, police resorted to lathi charge and detained NSUI workers. They were taken to an open jail. Some of protesters were injured.
One of the police officers told media that NSUI members were allowed to organise a peaceful protest but they tried to break the barricades and pelted stones at police.
NSUI members have been protesting against the New Education Policy in various districts of the state for the last few days and they had announced to end their protest in Bhopal.
