New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- The Aam Aadmi Party lashed out at Education minister Ashish Sood for "insulting" parents at a town hall in Janakpuri.
AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj and Manish Sisodia shared a video from the event in which Sood is heard telling a parent, "If you want to leave, then leave." Calling the remark an affront to families struggling with arbitrary fee hikes, Sisodia said: "My heart weeps when I think of the future of Delhi's children in the hands of such a government and such an Education Minister."
At a press conference, Bharadwaj alleged the BJP had secretly pushed through the law without consultation with parents' associations or the public. He said the town hall was "only a publicity stunt" where parents were not allowed to ask genuine questions, recordings were banned, and those present were intimidated instead of being heard. He argued the law was designed to benefit private school owners, not parents, and labelled Sood's conduct "shameful and arrogant." "What this government is showing today is outright goondaism and bullying," he said. Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha added that AAP had proposed amendments in the Assembly to strengthen parents' rights, but every suggestion was rejected. "This is perhaps the first law in the country where even the option of going to court has been denied", he alleged.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.