Congress, BJP clash as student protests intensify nationwide.
Two people, including a woman police constable, were injured during protest-related clashes in Hyderabad, Telangana, officials said.
- Congress and BJP workers clashed in several cities during rival protests over the NEET controversy.
- Rahul Gandhi demanded Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, an apology from Modi, and action over violence against students.
- In Hyderabad, clashes injured two people, including a woman police constable.
- In Patna, both sides exchanged blows and several people were seen bleeding.
- Congress leaders were detained in Delhi during their protest.
The agitation over the NEET issue has now spilled far beyond one protest site or one state capital. at the center of the storm.
On Wednesday, the atmosphere was tense from the start. Congress leaders were furious after Rahul Gandhi and other opposition figures were forcibly removed from a dharna outside the Prime Minister’s residence on Tuesday, while the BJP accused Gandhi and the opposition of behaving in an unruly and anarchic manner. In the middle of that clash, the original issue risked getting buried under slogans, detentions, and counter-protests.
What makes this moment painful is that the students’ concerns are real, but they are now being pulled into a much bigger political contest. Gandhi demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the violence, action against those who assaulted students, and reforms in the education system. Those demands reflect the depth of anger, but they also show how quickly a paper leak controversy can become a fight over legitimacy, accountability, and public trust.
In Hyderabad, the confrontation turned physical. Two people, including a woman police constable, were injured after BJP and Congress cadres clashed near the BJP state headquarters. In Vijayawada, activists from both parties came face to face and accused each other of provocation. In Patna, the scene grew even more chaotic, with workers from both sides clashing near the Congress headquarters and several people seen bleeding. These were not isolated scuffles; they were symptoms of a much wider breakdown in political tempers.
The pattern repeated in Jammu, outside a Congress office in Madhya Pradesh, and in Delhi, where Congress president Devender Yadav and several others were detained. Across the country, police had to step in repeatedly, using barricades, detentions, and crowd control to keep rival marches from colliding. That image says a lot about the current mood: every protest seems to be answered by a counter-protest, and every grievance quickly becomes a confrontation.
There is also a deeper emotional layer here. For students and families, exam leaks are not just administrative failures; they can decide careers, delay dreams, and create the sense that merit no longer protects anyone. That is why the protests have spread so quickly and why they have found support beyond one party or one group. But when political workers turn those protests into street battles, the students’ message risks being drowned out by the noise of party rivalry.
The BJP’s response has been to portray the opposition as disorderly, while Congress says the police treated its leaders harshly. Both may be speaking to their own supporters, but neither side can ignore the fact that the public is watching a system under strain. The real test now is whether the issue can still be brought back to policy, accountability, and student welfare before more people get hurt.
What stands out most is how quickly a national education crisis has become a national political spectacle. Students wanted answers about exams. Instead, they got detentions, clashes, and hardening rhetoric. That is the danger of this moment: the more the fight expands, the harder it becomes to return to the original question of fairness in education.