5 min readNew DelhiJul 21, 2026 08:41 PM IST
First published on: Jul 21, 2026 at 08:41 PM IST
A day after the police used lathis and tear gas to stop youngsters from marching to Parliament to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Opposition stepped up the pressure on the government on Tuesday by holding a sit-in near the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The police, however, broke up the protest within three hours and detained top Opposition leaders.
Following the massive assembly of youth in the heart of Delhi on Monday, the sense in the Congress was that it could not allow a public perception to be created that the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was spearheading the movement against paper leaks and examination irregularities. Especially since Gandhi has been raising the same set of issues for a while and held two high-profile public engagements, Kota in June and Dehradun last week.
In a way, the main Opposition party had to reclaim the space, especially since the protests on Monday reflected there was anger among a section of the youth. And that too when most of the non-Congress Opposition has rallied behind activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a hunger strike, and the CJP. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal were two of the Opposition leaders who visited the Jantar Mantar protest venue on Tuesday. The Congress Seva Dal on Tuesday morning sent its volunteers to Jantar Mantar to distribute food and water to the protesters.
The AAP targeted the Congress, alleging that its dharna was an attempt to divert attention from the CJP’s protest. “To weaken the CJP’s dharna, Modi ji has allowed Rahul Gandhi to protest outside his residence,” alleged AAP MP Sanjay Singh.
How the Congress planned it
Among those whom the police detained were Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav. The government claimed it had agreed to Gandhi’s demand of discussing the issue of paper leaks in Parliament, but alleged that the LoP went back on his word and insisted that Pradhan too has to resign.
“To weaken the CJP’s dharna, Modi ji has allowed Rahul Gandhi to protest outside his residence,” alleged AAP MP Sanjay Singh. (Photo: Congress)
In the afternoon, hours after Rahul and Priyanka visited injured protesters at the RML Hospital, Congress MPs received a message from AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal: “All MPs of LS & RS of INC are requested to reach 10, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi at 3 pm today … to formally greet Congress President on his Birthday.”
When they turned up at Kharge’s residence, they were informed of the march to the PM’s 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence. It left some of the MPs surprised, one of whom told The Indian Express that the leadership didn’t tell them in advance about the sit-in in order to not alert the police.
“We were all called to (Congress president Mallikarjun) Kharge Ji’s residence to wish him on his birthday. There, we were told that there is a protest outside the PM’s residence and that we all have to go there. It was sudden for us too,” said the MP. Kerala CM V D Satheesan was in Kerala House when he came to know about the sit-in and joined his colleagues. However, he left after some time.
A Congress leader being removed from the protest site outside PM Narendra Modi’s house, in Delhi, on Tuesday. (Photo: Congress)
Outside the PM’s residence, Gandhi was seen distributing zip ties among his party colleagues so that they could tie their wrists and make it difficult for the police to drag them away. In a social media post from the protest site, Gandhi urged “every patriotic Indian who believes our students deserve justice “ to join the dharna. “An attack on students is an attack on every Indian family. Prime Minister Modi thinks he can escape without giving answers, without facing any consequences – he won’t be able to, not at all this time,” the LoP posted on X. Following his call, Sule and Akhilesh joined the protest.
The government dispatched MoS Parliamentary Affairs Jitendra Singh and Home Secretary Govind Mohan to speak to Gandhi and get him to climb down. Singh claimed that Gandhi initially demanded that the government agree to discuss in Parliament the NEET issue and the protest going on at Jantar Mantar. “Within a few moments, after taking permission from the government’s top leadership, Shri Rahul Gandhi was assured that his demand has been accepted, and the government is ready to discuss in Parliament all issues related to NEET and the associated movement,” Singh wrote on X.
However, the minister claimed that when the LoP was informed about this, he went back on his word and sought an assurance on Pradhan’s resignation. “When an attempt was made to humbly explain to him that for a senior leader like him to backtrack from his word so quickly does not befit him, he said that it is his prerogative. When the Home Secretary tried to explain that this site is not suitable for a sit-in, his response was that it is also his prerogative to sit wherever he wants,” Singh said.
