India, July 21 -- Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday lashed out at Union minister JP Nadda's assertion that a proposal came from the protesters to hold talks with the government, and asked that when "our fasting children's proposals" were known to all, was the government waiting to tear-gas and lathi charge them. In the first direct contact between the Centre and agitating CJP, Nadda on Monday held talks with two representatives of the outfit and assured them that the government leadership will hold internal discussions on their demands, after thousands of protesters tried to march to Parliament but were prevented by police.
According to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the assurance came after its spokespersons Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das met Nadda, who acted as a government emissary, twice within two hours at the Health Minister's residence and submitted a memorandum citing their demands, including the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities. Reacting to the development, Sibal said on X, "Nadda: 'for the first time a proposal came from the protesters to hold talks with the government'. How arrogant!" "Our fasting children's proposals were known to all. What was the government doing? Watching and waiting to tear-gas and lathi charge them! Shameful!" the Independent Rajya Sabha MP said.
The first dialogue between the government and youth-led CJP came on a day when police cracked down on the protesters by using tear gas and baton charge to prevent them from marching towards Parliament. In a statement, Nadda had said discussions with the protesters had been underway since 11.50 am after they proposed talks with the government earlier in the day. "The meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere. An initial verbal discussion was held in detail with their delegation, and they submitted a written petition to me around 4 PM," he had said. The minister had said he had requested all the protesters to end their sit-in and assist the administration in restoring normalcy. "The minister assured us he will discuss this at the appropriate level. However, no commitments have been made so far. The peaceful protesters will not rest until the demand is met," Das had said in a post on X after the meeting.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.