New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday lashed out at the Centre over the lathi-charge on protesters, saying the "walloping" of students was shocking and the whole issue was "very badly" handled.
Tharoor, who visited the Jantar Mantar protest site on Tuesday night and interacted with several students injured during the 'Sansad Chalo' march, said he heard painful testimonies of students and was perturbed by them.
Dressed in black in solidarity with protesting students, Tharoor said it reflected the sadness of what is happening in the country.
Asked about the BJP's charge that the Congress was politicising the issue, he said, the fact is that politics enters the picture the moment an issue cannot be raised in Parliament.
"But the real issue is the feelings of the students. They are the future of the country. And if they are feeling betrayed, there ought to be some opportunity to reach out to them. I'm really surprised that the government has allowed matters to get out of hand like this and has greeted the students with violence and lathis," he told reporters in Parliament House complex.
"That was really a bad idea. It was very badly done. Walloping the students in the middle of the street is just shocking," Tharoor said.
The Congress MP said he went to Jantar Matar to meet students and did not go on stage or do any politics.
"I heard some moving stories and painful testimonies, a student distributing water bottles was hit below the eye and on the head with lathis, a girl was manhandled by policemen... I am very perturbed by all of this," Tharoor said.
Tharoor on Tuesday attacked the Centre over the lathicharge on student protesters and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi being "dragged off physically" during a sit-in outside the prime minister's residence, as he asserted that the government cannot conceal its lack of accountability behind "brutal" police action.
"The Leader of the Opposition being dragged off physically and put in detention along with other MPs, this is something that has moved the hearts and consciences of everybody in our country," Tharoor had told PTI Videos at Jantar Mantar.
"I wanted to stand in solidarity with the students who are protesting here so I've come to see them. I think it's a democratic right to protest. It's a non-violent protest. No one is trying to do anything that is against the law. So I don't understand why the government is behaving with such insensitivity," the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
The "brutal" lathicharge, the "horrendous" behaviour of the police and today the physical dragging away of the LoP, all of this has caused a lot of dismay to law-abiding citizens of this country, Tharoor had said.
"This is not how we expect our government to deal with protests, with dissidents, with people who are demanding justice. These young students after all they worked hard for their exams, they studied hard and they were betrayed by the system. They were betrayed by the government that runs the system and they have every right to protest," he had asserted.
The government should be accountable, he said.
"The government cannot conceal its lack of accountability behind the police action and that too very brutal police action," Tharoor had said.
Interacting with injured protesters at Jantar Mantar, he said, "We really care for you, will try to raise your concerns in Parliament."
Later, in a post on X, Tharoor had said, "The forceful detention of @Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and other Opposition leaders during their protest is a severe affront to our democracy."
"Physical aggression against a peaceful protest is completely unjustifiable. An accountable government listens to dissent; it does not silence it through police action," he said.
"This is not the India our Constitution envisages! We must never allow this appalling conduct to become the new normal," he said.
Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress, and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, were forcibly removed by the police after they staged a dharna outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence here, demanding his resignation.
The surprise sit-in by the Congress in the high-security zone sent the government into a tizzy, prompting it to rush Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, along with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, to persuade the opposition leaders to vacate the sensitive site.
Gandhi's discussion with the minister lasted a few minutes, after which Singh and the home secretary left as the talks remained inconclusive.
Soon after Singh left the protest site, police forcibly removed and detained Gandhi and other leaders in the evening. The opposition leaders were later released.
