Pune: Hundreds of citizens gathered near Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Chowk, close to the Pune collectorate, on Monday in solidarity with the Jantar Mantar demonstration led by founder of Cockroach Janta Party Abhijeet Dipke and supported by innovator and activist Sonam Wangchuk.They demanded resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and accountability from the Narendra Modi govt, among several other issues.IT professional Snehal Krushnat Jadhav was present with her six-month-old daughter in her arms. “I can feel the pain of the mothers whose children died by suicide after NEET. I want my baby to grow up in a better world where an unresponsive govt is not ruling the country. She is too young now. She will become older and need to know what democracy is, about why it is important to protest and why dissent is essential,” said Jadhav.Working professional Anuja joined the protest following disappointment with the way environment was allegedly destroyed to make way for development projects across the country. “The govt needs to know that they are here because of us and not the other way around. The way Wangchuk was forcibly taken to the hospital was painful to watch,” she added.The protest was not limited to scams in the education sector. The collective frustration building up for the last 10 or so years had found an outlet through this protest, said many.“Starting from roads to India’s image abroad, there are so many problems we are facing as a country. We were too afraid to voice it, but Dipke did. Hence, we are rallying behind him. I don’t know if he has political ambitions or not, but he had the guts to stand up against the govt — something everyone is afraid of nowadays for the fear of being jailed. I think no govt should be in power for more than five years, because they start taking people for granted,” said IT professional Aishwarya, who attended with her pet dog sporting a vest with messages in support of the protest.Teertha Shukla runs her own marketing agency and cancelled her meetings to participate because she believes she owes it to the future of the country. “All our lives we are told to study well to succeed. It is the only way to access a better life for millions of people in this country. The system broke that trust and we are here demanding the resignation of the minister,” said Shukla.Sarita Avad (71) said she was proud of the young people who had shown up in large numbers. “All systems — from agriculture to health to education — are under attack. The protest is not limited to education. It is the collective frustration of citizens about ineffective and corrupt systems of the country. We are hopeful that now things will be forced to change,” she added.
