ITANAGAR, 23 Jul: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Thursday extended solidarity to the students protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi over irregularities in the NEET examination, and condemned the police lathi charge on protesters during the ‘Chalo Sansad’ march on 20 July, in which scores of students and demonstrators sustained injuries.
The AAPSU said the continuing hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk, currently under treatment at Medanta Hospital, along with the sustained protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), reflects the genuine anguish of lakhs of students and families across the country whose futures have been put at risk by a compromised examination process.
The union said this anguish must be met with accountability and dialogue, not batons and detentions.
AAPSU president Meje Taku said: “A student demanding a fair examination system is not an enemy of the state. When the government answers that demand with lathis and tear gas, it is not the students who are failing this country; it is the system that was supposed to protect them.”
“We have seen what happens when the voices of the youth are ignored for too long,” Taku said.
“Arunachal Pradesh knows this history well, and we will not stand silent while students elsewhere in the country are beaten for asking honest questions,” he said.
The AAPSU noted that Wangchuk’s demands from his hospital bed have been modest and reasonable: accountability for the NEET paper leak, an assurance that the matter will be raised in Parliament, and a guarantee that no student or protester will face vindictive legal action. The AAPSU said these demands, along with the CJP’s call for ministerial accountability, deserve a direct response from the central government, rather than continued silence.
“A hunger strike from a hospital bed is not a threat to the nation; it is a mirror held up to it,” Taku said. “The government must look into that mirror and respond with dialogue, not silence.”
The AAPSU warned that the longer the government delays engagement, the greater the risk of a spillover effect, with the discontent already visible at Jantar Mantar spreading into widespread agitations across the country.
The union said what began as a protest over one examination has the potential to become a nationwide movement if the Centre continues to rely on force instead of dialogue.
The AAPSU has written to the prime minister, urging immediate dialogue with the protesting students and with Wangchuk, and warning that continued inaction risks the movement spreading further across the country.
The union has cautioned that if the government fails to respond to these demands in a timely manner, the AAPSU would be compelled to call for statewide protests across Arunachal in solidarity with the students at Jantar Mantar.
“Let this be clear: if the government does not pay heed in time, this will not remain confined to Delhi. It will spill over, and the country could well see agitations on a scale far beyond what we are witnessing today,” Taku said. “Our patience is in solidarity with the students of Jantar Mantar, not with the government’s delay. If dialogue does not begin soon, Arunachal Pradesh will make its voice heard on the streets as well.”
The AAPSU appealed to the central government to act with urgency and sincerity, stating that “the students of the country deserve answers, not batons.”
