Patna:
Activists of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) today held a protest as BJP President JP Nadda came to Patna College, where he once studied. They demanded rollback of the National Education Policy of 2020, and grant of central status to Patna University.
“JP Nadda, wapas jao (go back)” was the main slogan of the protesters who surrounded Mr Nadda. Security personnel pushed through the crowd for him to move out. Mr Nadda, who graduated in political science from here and whose father worked at Patna University, was part of a programme at the college seminar hall.
The gherao is significant also because the BJP is a partner in the Bihar government led by JDU’s Nitish Kumar — though it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the alliance lately. In fact, central status for Patna University is a demand that even Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has raised in the past, as have other AISA and other organisations across the political spectrum.
Mr Nadda is in the state capital mainly for a two-day convention of the BJP’s frontal organisations. He held a roadshow, too, after he landed here earlier in the day.
About the protest, a press release by AISA mentioned that Kumar Divyam, its state unit joint secretary, led the students. The Leftist organisation has held that the NEP 2020 is “nothing but a promotion of graded inequality”. In statements on the policy as shared on the AISA website, among other objections to the policy, the organisation has stressed that increase in the number of private institutions will hurt the idea of social justice as implemented via reservation and other policies.
