Students take to streets; Cong demands minister’s sacking

Students here took to the streets on Thursday to protest the CBSE’s decision to hold re-examination of Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics papers, even as the Congress demanded that Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and the board chairperson be sacked.

Amid massive protests over the paper leaks issue, Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, going into rhyme, saying “in everything there is leak, the ‘chowkidar’ is weak”.

Javadekar, however, put up a brave and said the culprits will not go scot-free. He termed the issue as “unfortunate”. The BJP rejected Rahul Gandhi’s charge, saying the Congress president was referring to the UPA rule.

“Rahul Gandhi is remembering his days,” Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a Cabinet briefing.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party demands that HRD Minister Javadekar and CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal be sacked and a judicial probe by a high court judge be ordered into the matter. The Police, which registered two cases in connection with the leaks, started questioning the owner of a coaching centre in Rajender Nagar whose name was shared by CBSE and is suspected to be behind the alleged leak. The office of the CBSE had received an unaddressed envelope on March 26 containing four sheets of handwritten answers of the Class 12 Economics paper, the board said in its complaint to the Delhi Police. The Board said they received a complaint by fax that a man running a coaching institute in Rajinder Nagar was involved in paper leakage. Meanwhile, cries of ‘we want justice’ resonated as students protested.