Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the Centre’s action against climate activist Sonam Wangchuk would be raised in the Parliament session starting next week, as opposition parties alleged the central govt remained a spectator throughout his agitation rather than addressing it.Pawar said the govt decided to act only after the situation went beyond control. He said the protest would continue and many political parties stood in support of Wangchuk’s agitation.“Representatives from Congress met him. NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule met him. Leaders from other parties also visited him. The Centre did not handle the situation properly. They acted when they realised the situation was going out of control.”Pawar said the govt did not take a stand against the people responsible for the NEET-UG paper leak. He said the future of thousands of children was affected because the issue was not handled properly.The senior politician said none of the leaders from the government visited the protest site though Wangchuk was agitating in Delhi. “The action was taken on Saturday morning. But the issue will not end here, the parliament session is scheduled to begin. The issue will be raised there as well,” he told reporters at his hometown Baramati.State unit president of Congress Harshvardhan Sapkal called the action against Wangchuk an “act of dictatorship”. The agitation was under way in a democratic manner but the govt chose to act against Wangchuk instead of those responsible for misconduct of the examination. The police action against agitators was totally unacceptable and it was against the democratic rights, Sapkal said.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray condemned the action and posted on X, “The world watches democracy in India being broken by forces, shamelessly. Even peaceful protests for students against an incompetent minister are not tolerated anymore.”
