Shashi Tharoor extends support to CJP and Wangchuk
New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Taroor on Wednesday appealed to activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his fast at Jantar Mantar over alleged irregularities in the NEET exam, and urged the government to engage in dialogue, asserting that such a move is not assign of weakness but that of statesmanship.
In an open letter posted on 'X' to the Jantar Mantar protestors, Tharoor said with Parliament in session again from Monday, there will be an opportunity to raise the students' issues at the highest forum of democracy. "That's where the problem should be addressed, not by fasting unto death. Please heed my plea," he said.
" My dear young friends, I address you today not as a politician or an MP, but as someone deeply troubled by what is happening to your generation of young Indians. This is personal to me. I was born to a middle-class family: my father was a salaried newspaper employee, my mother a homemaker, with three children to educate on one income," Tharoor said. "For a family like ours, the merit was not a slogan. scholarships, fair examinations, honest results--these where the only way one salary could carry three children's dreams," he said.
Congress MP suggested that with the parliament starting from 20th July, we will have an opportunity to raise the students 'issues in the highest forum of our democracy.
In his message to the government, Tharoor urged it to reach out and engage in the dialogue "Our democracy owes its young citizens." That is not weakness; that is statesmanship", he asserted.
As Wangchuk's health continued to deteriorate, several leaders like Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackery and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, among others, requested the activist to end his fast.
