Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Mandal-II drama has started unfolding in its most aggressive form.
The anger and frustration brewing among students over the proposed government move to reserve seats for other backward classes in Central educational institutions degenerated into a mass protest on Wednesday when hundreds of medical students staged a strong protest right in front of the residence of Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh.
Police fired water canons and tear gas in an effort to prevent the students from staging the protest.
The anti-reservation protesters, in fact, fought a street batlle with the police and there were instances of police beating and use of force.
The adamant students demanded that they not only want their demands to be met, but also an apology from the government.
"We haven't heard from the HRD ministry yet," they said.
"We were protesting peacefully, they started treating us like animals. We work so hard and the to th top medical colleges and suddenly this reservation comes up," one of the protesting students said.
The government is proposing 27 per cent reservation for OBC in all higher education institutions. But with existing reservation for SCs and STs, this would that close to 50 per cent of the seats would be reserved.
Some time back, these medical students formed a new group called Youth for Equality. This is the first major day-long protest by the group.
"We are going to ask our senior doctors to join us and we are contemplating going on strike," said another protestor.
Meanwhile, doctors of AIIMS , Maulana Azad Medical College and Lady Harding have decided to go on a strike in protest against the quota policy.
The protestors, who were removed by the police from Arjun Singh's 17 Akbar Road residence, later demonstrated at Jantar Mantar and raised slogans against the Union minister.
Security outside Singh's residence was tightened and movement of vehicles in the area restricted, police sources said.
Police arrested 300 protesters in a bid to thwart the protest. They were, however, released later.
The protestors included students from premier medical colleges including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Maulana Azad Medical College.
Protesting under the banner 'Youth for Equality', the students from five medical colleges accused political parties of catering to votebanks under the garb of helping the backward class.
"The politicians are catering to their votebanks. Not one party opposed the bill in Parliament. They are playing divide and rule," Supriya Gupta, President of Lady Hardinge College Students' Union, said.
"The quota will severely compromise the kind of health professionals this country gets. It is not machines or instruments but human life that is at stake," she said, adding that colleagues from the OBC category are 'financially, intellectually and economically equal'.
The students said they are for reservations based on economic status and at the primary level. The students also burnt the HRD Minister in an effigy.
The quota proposal again became political issue today. BJP spokesperson said Singh is being secretive about the reservation decision and the government is trying to fool the OBC community.
What started as a peaceful protest slowly turned into anti-administration agitation and if the police and the government fail to react in a sensitive manner, things could take an ugly turn.
(with agency inputs)
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.