Rahul Gandhi accuses Amit Shah of blocking interaction with students at Meghalaya’s private University
AT Photo
Guwahati, Jan 23: Amid the ongoing controversial feud between Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi and the BJP, the former on Tuesday stated that he was “prevented” from engaging in interactive sessions with the students of a private university in Meghalaya during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, alleging that the interference was directed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
According to Rahul Gandhi, the Union Minister communicated the instruction to the university authorities through the office of the Chief Minister of Assam.
"I wanted to come to your university and address you, listen to you. But what happened is that the Home minister of India called up the Chief Minister of Assam and the CMO called up the leadership of the university and said that Rahul Gandhi must not be allowed to speak to the students,” Gandhi spoke while standing on his Yatra bus at the Assam-Meghalaya border, addressing students and others.
Rahul Gandhi had planned distinct discussions with students, civil society members, and party leaders at the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in Meghalaya's Ri Bhoi district, which shares a border with Assam, on Tuesday morning.
The Congress had initially announced programmes at the private university on Monday afternoon, but due to the university retracting permission, the events were rescheduled to a hotel in Ri Bhoi district.
"It is not important if Rahul Gandhi comes or not. What is important is that you are allowed to listen to anybody you want. You must be allowed to live the life as you want and not as somebody else wants," he said.
"They want to turn you into slaves but I know that nobody, no power in the universe can do it," Gandhi asserted, while attacking the BJP.
He further asserted that such incidents were not limited to Assam but were occurring across schools, colleges, and universities throughout India, emphasising that students were being hindered from expressing their own creativity and imagination.
