Rejecting the Prime Minister’s appeal to end their stir, striking medical students announced their decision on Sunday to continue protesting against quotas in higher education.
NEW DELHI: Rejecting the Prime Minister’s appeal to end their stir, striking medical students announced their decision on Sunday to continue protesting against quotas in higher education.
On Sunday, Dr Kumar Harsh of Youth for Equality, spearheading the protests, said the appeal “carries no meaning as it does not address our demands”.
Talks with Health Secretary PK Hota on Sunday also failed, with students expressing their frustration with the “same platitudes”.
“Why should the strike be called off? The status quo has been maintained,” said Amithasha Sinha of Lady Hardinge Medical College.
At AIIMS, where an indefinite hunger strike entered its eighth day, students burnt health ministry notices asking them to return to work or quit their hostels.
As the condition of 20 students on hunger strike deteriorated, Youth for Equality representatives said they would be replaced by a fresh batch, reinforced by 10 more students from each college.
In Uttar Pradesh, the government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act declaring the strike at Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow illegal.
Protesters at AIIMS urged citizens to switch off all lights between 8pm and 8:10pm on Monday to protest against the quota.
Meanwhile, rumours dogged the protest, one claiming that the strike was being called off and another announcing the death of a striking student.
IIT students want to die
A group of students from IIT Delhi gave a memorandum to the President on Sunday for permission to commit suicide if quotas in educational institutions are implemented.
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