Jantar Mantar Protest Live Updates | ‘Why so selective?’ Union Minister Nadda questions Rahul Gandhi’s paper leak charges

In the first press conference after the CJP's Parliament march, Union Minister JP Nadda said the Centre is ready for discussion and criticised Rahul Gandhi for being "selective" in agitating against paper leaks. Nadda listed alleged paper leaks in states ruled by non-BJP parties and urged the Congress leader not to politicise the issue. The BJP leader said: "Regarding the students' demand, first and foremost, I would say that it should not be politicised. This is a profound issue, and it requires a thorough discussion with depth. I also want to say here today that at 4 PM, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi ji, gave a presentation in which he discussed nearly 150 paper leaks. This is a matter of investigation, and for this, the government will place answers to every point before the public." CJP firm on demand: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) repeated their calls for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rs 1 crore compensation for families of students who died by suicide, saying its protest will go on until the demands are met. This came after activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a hunger strike as part of the same demonstration, said he was willing to end the fast if the government "considered" firing Pradhan and "adequate" compensation for the students' families in a seemingly more conciliatory tone than the CJP. Want to live, says Wangchuk: In a letter released on Wednesday evening, Wangchuk revealed that many people were asking him to call off the hunger strike. "I want to live," the activist asserted, but said he was forced to continue his fast "indefinitely" till the government agreed to his new demands. This also included an assurance that no "punitive or retaliatory legal action" would be taken against the young protesters "participating in the movement". '154 Paper Leaks, No Convictions': Rahul Gandhi Targets Centre Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched an all-out attack against the Centre amid the ongoing CJP protest against NEET leak, asserting that there were 154 paper leaks in the past decade and yet no convictions. The Congress leader called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the students, while condemning the police action against the protesters and reiterating his demand for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. "The question is why is this happening to students. What exactly have they done? Thousands of them. To have security forces aiming weapons at them. What have they done? They are protesting peacefully. They are asking for what this country owes them," Gandhi said. Leaders of several opposition parties, dressed in black, staged a separate protest outside Parliament the same day demanding the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah and Pradhan over police action against students protesting the NEET paper leak. The protest came a day after Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were briefly detained by police for staging a sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence, before being released Tuesday night. Not going to any Minister's office: CJP The Cockroach Janta Party played hardball on Wednesday over the terms of its next meeting with the government, after its leaders were kept waiting for hours during their last meeting with Union Minister J P Nadda. CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said police had approached the party on Wednesday morning conveying Nadda's wish to talk, but that CJP would not go to his office this time. "We are not going to anyone's office. We could meet at a neutral place near Jantar Mantar," he said. Ministers meet Sonam Wangchuk Union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh met hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital on Tuesday evening, government sources said, shortly after Singh met Gandhi during his protest outside the PM's residence. Nadda and Singh were also set to meet a CJP delegation on Wednesday. Wangchuk, who began his fast on June 28, was moved to the private hospital on Tuesday following a court order after his wife alleged he had been illegally detained since being forcibly shifted from Jantar Mantar by police on Saturday. What began as a small online movement of a few hundred people has grown, per Reuters, into the sharpest youth-driven challenge to Modi's government since 2014, with the NEET paper leak — which forced roughly 2 million students to resit the exam and has been linked to several suicides — feeding wider frustration among young Indians over job shortages and repeated exam irregularities. Best of Express coverage 'India is angry and still asking wrong questions' Stadium turns detention site Tharoor: Parliament cannot act blind Food delivery from across country