In Uttar Pradesh politics, following the farmers’ movement, the issue of the student movement is now appearing to prepare new political ground ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. The anger of students against paper leaks in competitive examinations and alleged irregularities in the examination system is no longer limited to examination centers and protest sites. This issue has reached from Parliament to the streets, and opposition parties are trying to use it as a major political weapon against the government.
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Can Rahul and Akhilesh attract the votes of the student community?
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Rahul Gandhi has already been cornering the government on the issue of paper leaks, but the student movement has provided him an opportunity to take directly to the streets. For Akhilesh Yadav, this issue is even more significant because unemployment, recruitment examinations, and the anger of youth have long been key issues of the opposition in Uttar Pradesh politics. By supporting the student movement, the Samajwadi Party is trying to reach out to a segment that can play a decisive role in the upcoming elections.
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It is not so easy to turn the student movement into anti-government demonstrations
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The Central government had enacted a law in 2024 to curb unfair means in public examinations. This law made paper leaks, organized cheating, and disruptions in the examination process offenses, and provided for strict punishment against the guilty. Despite this, when questions continuously arise regarding new incidents, the discontent of students naturally increases. This is the point where the opposition is asking the government why that trust in the system could not be built even after the enactment of the law, which students need the most.
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Amid mounting pressure from protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late-night video message speaking about stricter measures and a new law against paper leaks is politically significant as well. The Prime Minister said that paper leaks are a matter of grave anguish for millions of students and their parents, and the government will take stern action against the culprits. This message from the government came at a time when the student protest was continuously expanding and opposition parties were raising the issue both inside and outside Parliament. This is where the political aspect of this movement comes to the fore. Both Rahul Gandhi and अखिलेश यादव (Akhilesh Yadav) know that it is not easy to turn a student movement into a purely anti-government demonstration. Students do not start a movement under the banner of any political party. Their primary demand is trust in the examination system, transparency, and the security of their future. Therefore, the biggest challenge before the opposition is that while supporting the voices of the students, it should not appear to be trying to take political control of the movement.
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There are significant differences between the farmers’ movement and the student movement
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The 2022 farmers’ movement is the biggest example to understand this entire sequence of events. Following a prolonged movement against the three agricultural laws, the central government repealed all three laws in November 2021. Assembly elections were scheduled to take place in Uttar Pradesh at that time. The Samajwadi Party had hoped that the resentment of farmers in western Uttar Pradesh would create a major political atmosphere against the BJP. Akhilesh Yadav allied with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and, together with Jayant Chaudhary, made the farmers’ issue a major part of the election campaign. However, the election results did not prove the opposition’s expectations entirely true. In the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP won 255 seats, and with its allies, the total seats of the National Democratic Alliance reached 273. The Samajwadi Party secured 111 seats, while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal won 8 seats. The BJP’s vote share was approximately 41.29 percent, whereas the Samajwadi Party received 32.06 percent of the votes.
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