‘Heart-breaking to see students struggling’: Gippy Grewal, Gurpreet Ghuggi urge dialogue over crackdown, writes Disney Brar


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Chandigarh, July 22

After putting in years of hard work, toiling round the clock and burning the midnight oil, the youngsters in our country have to continue their long struggle before they can find their place in the sun.  Instead of securing their seats in their favourite colleges and universities, the youth of our country has to battle tear-gas shells, water canons, baton beatings and lathi-charges, as they continue facing an uncertain future.As the students’ protest continue across the country, we get talking to actors and student leaders to know their opinions on the impasse in hand.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Actor and singer Gippy Grewal has now voiced his protest against the ongoing crackdown on the protesting students in Delhi, speaking on the issue, he said, “It is heart-breaking to see the students across our country struggling. They are not asking for too much just to be heard, treated fairly and given the opportunities they deserve.Hoping their voices are heard and a fair solution to their problem comes soon. I stand with the students in this difficult hour.”  Agreeing with him on the issue, popular punjabi actor and comedian,

Gurpreet Ghuggi labels  the  entire crackdown on the students as inhuman  and cruel, considering the students are just asking for their rightful demands to be fulfilled, he says, “these days even school students are not allowed to be hit  by the teachers and neither is there any such culture in the colleges, then how dare do we even think of beating up, releasing tear-gas shells or lashing out at the youth of our country with such a force? All the students are doing is asking for  their right because this is not the first time a paper has been leaked, I believe it has happened more than 38 times before. So who is responsible for it all and what action has been taken in this regard till now? How do we assure the students that they will get their rightful place in life? Why cannot the concerned authorities and the government sit peacefully and talk it out with the students? Their demands are not invalid and their hard work should not go in vain, we all should request the goverment to deal with this matter with  an immediate urgency, so that we don’t cause an irreparable loss to our country and our valuable youth.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Further actor Khushboo Kochhar Grewal, adds, “As someone with a public platform, I feel its important to acknowledge what is clearly a genuine crisis, thousands of young people have poured years of effort into these exams, the anxiety and  heartbreak around the paper leak issue is real and deeply human. Any movement that reflects that much frustration in our youth deserves to be heard with seriousness and not mere dismissed. But at the same time, I believe in a peaceful and a  lawful expression of dissent, for both the citizens and the state. Use of force against our protesters is concerning and so is violence and damage to public property during a protest. I’d rather see all sides- the government, the leadership of the movement and the law enforcement agencies working together to solve this crisis . Both the warring factions should sit across the table and resolve this issue through a healthy dialogue rather than through confrontation on the streets. Our students should definitely get their answers , accountability and a fair investigation into what went wrong and where.”

Dalvir Singh Goldy, Ex President, Panjab University, Chandigarh and  Ex MLA, Dhuri believes it is the youths voice which is being stifled and that too with  a brutal force, analysing the ugly situation in hand, he shares, “ the youth is basically not being allowed to express their dissent and anguish over being mistreated and crushed in their own country and by their own system. Around 1/3rd of our Indian population comprises of the youth in the age-group of 18-35 years and giving them a healthy platform to protest, raise their doubts and seek solutions to their problems is the responsibility of our goverment. Paper leak is happening again and again and that is why the confidence of our youth in our system and government is lost. There has to be a reason why the protest and this movement got around one million followers  in one day. Why were proper initiatives not taken by the government authorities to hold peaceful talks with the agitating students when they were protesting  silently since so long? And then why was the opposition not allowed to discuss this issue in the Rajya Sabha? Why was the government turning a blinds eye to such an important issue which has now gone out of proportion. There is no reason why the police in plainclothes resorted to lathi-charge against the innocent students, many of whom were women protesters. The anguish of the people is valid and needs a proper resolution before things can return to normal.” 

On the other hand,  Anurag Dalal, former president, Panjab University (2024-2025) and the first independent president of PU, says it is pure politics being played out in Delhi  and the students are just bearing the brunt of it all. Raising a pertinent point, he quips “pure rajneeti is being played out in Delhi. It is an all party sanghatan working against the government there because what sense does it even make to gherao the parliament which is a place from where the whole country is being run. The government and the other concerned authorities definitely have to act and protect the parliament at any cost. The present situation is being exploited by various political parties for their own gain. The issue is much bigger than a mere NEET paper leak now. The students are just being used by the political parties for grinding their own axes. Otherwise how is it even possible that, the head of the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) can sit back and eat burgers in plush bars and later come out at his convenience and protest whenever the situation escalates. I have my serious suspicions here. Our Prime Minister, has already assured the students of a thorough investigation into the paper leak. Where is the problem now? ”