Centre reaches out to Wangchuk; activist seeks protection for protesting students
Centre engages NEET protest leaders as agitation over exam cancellation and student deaths intensifies
- Sonam Wangchuk is fasting over the NEET protest issue and has asked for protection for protesting students.
- The Union government sent Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh to meet the protest leader.
- Government sources said the Union government would work with state governments on compensation for families who lost children to suicides linked by families to the examination cancellation.
- J.P. Nadda said talks were ongoing and Parliament remained the correct forum for a durable resolution.
What happened
The Union government stepped up engagement with leaders of the NEET protest by sending Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh to meet activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a hunger strike over the issue. The outreach is meant to cool a growing protest movement tied to the cancellation of the examination and the political fallout that followed.
Mr. Wangchuk said he would consider ending the hunger strike if the Union government assured that no punitive or retaliatory action would be taken against the protesting students. He also said the ministers indicated that a meaningful parliamentary discussion could take place, including consideration of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.
UPSC can frame the NEET controversy as a governance and accountability question: how the Union government should respond to examination-related unrest, protect protesting students from retaliation, and use Parliament for a durable political settlement. The issue also links education administration with ethics, public trust, and crisis communication.
