New Delhi: Four days since protesters in the national capital who responded to the Cockroach Janta Party’s Sansad Chalo march were met with Delhi Police’s brute force, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a tweet speaking of the future of the country’s youth. Almost immediately afterwards, a few of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prominent leaders endorsed Modi’s message, repeating the necessity to bring the NEET paper leak accused to task. What they haven’t done is issue any statements on the state action or speak of the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.On the morning of July 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first reference to protests taking place in his backyard and said on X that fast track courts will be set up to ensure swift punishment for exam paper leaks, and “nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth”.Among those who responded with immediate quote-tweets was the Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta who said that under Modi’s leadership, “safeguarding the interests of students and securing a bright future for the youth is [their] utmost priority,” and finance minister Niramala Sitharaman, who said the PMO “gives a commitment and takes the necessary steps.”MP Nishikant Dubey also chimed in with a quote-tweet saying “no criminal will be spared,” as did Tejasvi Surya, who said, “The focus is on reforms.”Modi’s statement, as well as those of Gupta, Dubey and Surya, has been silent on Pradhan or the brutality unleashed by the police on Monday. Nor has any statement come from Union home minister Amit Shah under whose direct control the Delhi Police functions.This is also not the first time that Modi has spoken of or addressed paper leaks through the years either. In multiple tweets, educationist Maheshwar Peri has noted how Modi has promised action against those leaking papers since 2023.Pressers from BJP and what they saidOn Wednesday, the BJP sent out union ministers Rajnath Singh and J.P. Nadda to issue statements and press conferences in which they accused the opposition of using the protests as “political tools” and seeking “political mileage” while claiming that the government remains “sensitive” to youth concerns. BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj on the other hand was deputed to hold a press conference in which she accused the CJP of spreading fake narratives while the government was ready for dialogue. Swaraj was also among BJP leaders who amplified Modi’s morning tweet on X.Inside parliament, Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju in the Lok Sabha and Nadda in the Rajya Sabha sought to assuage opposition anger in the House and said that the government is “ready” for a discussion on NEET paper leaks. The impasse however, continued, as the opposition said that no discussion can take place until Pradhan resigns.At the pressers or in the parliament, none of the BJP leaders made any mention of the scale of police action unleashed on students on Monday or the chorus for Pradhan’s resignation which has been echoing from Jantar Mantar for over a month.Nadda’s late evening press conference blaming UPA-era paper leaksIt was Nadda who was forced to address a question on the demand for Pradhan’s resignation on the streets and in parliament at his late evening press conference where he simply said that the “government is ready for a discussion in parliament.”Nadda’s late evening press conference at the BJP headquarters on Wednesday started by saying that the students’ issue of paper leaks should not be “politicised” but then went on to list alleged paper leaks under the UPA government, and accused Gandhi of “selective outrage” and seeking “political mileage.”“The demand of the students, the issue they have raised regarding paper leaks. First of all, I urge that we should not politicise this issue and it is not appropriate to seek political advantage from it. This is a serious problem and requires in-depth discussion,” said Nadda.Nadda then responded to Gandhi, who held a press conference earlier in the day and alleged that there had been 152 paper leaks in ten years with zero convictions. Nadda alleged that by not mentioning UPA-era paper leaks, Gandhi had shown that that he was trying to use students’ demands for “political mileage.”“Why did you (Rahul Gandhi) not speak about the UPA and UPA-supported governments, or what you now call the INDIA alliance governments? Why did you leave them out? It clearly shows that your objective is not the welfare of students,” said Nadda. “Your concern is not to improve the education system, enhance the quality of education, or ensure justice for students. Instead, you are trying to use students’ issues and their demands for political mileage. You are trying to derive political benefit from them, and that is unfortunate.”While Nadda’s statement in the press conference made no mention of the calls for Pradhan’s resignation, it was only in response to a direct question at the end, did Nadda say that the “government is ready for discussion”.“We are ready for a discussion in parliament. Let them (opposition) give their views. The government will respond,” he said.Rajnath’s statement blaming opposition for using protest as ‘political tool’Earlier in the day, defence minister Rajnath Singh said that while the protests were a “matter of serious concern”, “some people are attempting to use the students and youth of our country as a political tool to fulfill their political interests.”“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our government is fully committed to fulfilling the aspirations of students and youth and to their welfare. We are committed to ensuring that no injustice is done to any individual, especially our students and youth. The Manufactured Sense of Anger by some opposition leaders is merely a failed attempt to confuse and mislead the public, especially our children and youth,” he said.“We are fully sensitive to the sentiments and concerns of the youth. Parliament is in session, and the government has also stated its willingness to have meaningful debates on every issue, but the opposition is making an inappropriate attempt to resolve issues not in Parliament but on the streets. In a democracy, Parliament House is the place for discussion on issues, where the opposition is free to express its views.”Repeated adjournments in parliament, claims of agreement to discussionWhile Singh and Nadda both said that parliament is ready for a discussion, the first three days of parliament saw repeated adjournments as the opposition demanded a discussion on the protests, police action on protesters and exam paper leaks. Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was cut off for the third time in three days and the House adjourned as he sought to raise the police brutality on protesters.“If there has to be a fair discussion, the Education Minister should resign first. Until he resigns, there won’t be a fair discussion here,” said Kharge on Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha amid an uproar.In the Lok Sabha, it was parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju who said that the government is ready for a discussion in the House on NEET, even though the House functioned only for a few minutes and saw three adjournments before proceedings were adjourned for the day at 2pm.“The government has already appealed to all the political parties for a comprehensive discussion on NEET paper leaks and all the matters related to examinations in the country. We are saying from the first day, that the discussion can only take place under the Rules. The duration of the discussion and under which Rules, the Speaker should decide after speaking to all Floor leaders. The government is ready to deliberate on the future of the country,” said Rijiju.While both inside and outside the House, Nadda, Rijiju and Singh said that the government is ready for discussions on NEET, it made no mention of the police brutality on students on Monday, or whether it would address the police action during such a discussion.“This is not an issue of Congress, Samajwadi Party, BJP. This is an issue of students, youths,” said Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav. “If students’ are not heard they will hit the streets. The question is the way the government has behaved. Students were thrashed, their heads were split open, women’s clothes were torn. Will you tear the clothes of our daughters? We were compelled to hold a protest outside the PM’s residence. If you heard us here we wouldn’t have to go there. Why can’t the PM give a statement in the House when he can make statements outside?”Swaraj targets CJPWhile union ministers attacked the opposition inside and outside the House, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj in a press conference hit out at the CJP and accused them of spreading misinformation.“They demanded that they hold talks with the government on Monday. From June 6 to July 20 there had been no request for a dialogue with the government. But the moment they sent this message, the government immediately invited them to come and talk with Nadda,” she said.Swaraj did not mention, however, that the protesters had been demanding Pradhan’s resignation for a month.“They were assured of a solution through dialogue and to end the protest. They did not come with a written list of demands. Nadda asked them to give their demands in writing. They are misleading by saying they were made to wait. They took 2.5 hours to write down their demands. The government was waiting patiently,” she said.“When they came back with their written demands, they were asked to not protest, they assured us but went back to their protest. When they restarted their protest they spread fake news,” said Swaraj.Swaraj said that the CJP had alleged that climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife Geetanjali Angmo’s hair was pulled which was fact checked, that CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained, which also turned out to be false.“They also said that a 12-year-old girl sustained head injuries. This was also false,” she said.Swaraj, who said that the police had exercised “restraint” when the march to parliament started, did not mention the scale of police action or why it was unleashed in the first place when Nadda was already meeting with the CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.With the protest at Jantar Mantar showing no signs of ending, the government also sent Nadda and MoS PMO Jitendra Singh to meet climate activist Sonam Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. Singh was also sent on Tuesday to ask Gandhi to call off his sit-in protest outside Modi’s residence on Tuesday.However, Wangchuk has later said that he is willing to end his fast if the government gave a commitment that no punitive or retaliatory action would be taken against students who participated in the ongoing protests.