Published Jul 23, 2026 | 10:07 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 23, 2026 | 10:07 PM
Murli Manohar Joshi. (Credit: BJP)
Synopsis: In a rare public criticism, Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi has urged the Modi government to engage with student protesters through dialogue rather than force. One of the four members of the BJP’s Marg Darshak Mandal alongside Modi, LK Advani and Rajnath Singh, Joshi said the use of force against protestors would alienate large sections of society.
Former BJP president and Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi has criticised the Union government’s handling of the student protests in New Delhi, urging it to respond with dialogue rather than force in one of the rarest instances of public criticism of the Narendra Modi government during its 12 years at the helm at the Centre.
Joshi, one of the four members of the BJP’s Marg Darshak Mandal (Advisory Council) alongside Modi, LK Advani and Rajnath Singh, said students’ concerns over the examination system were “genuine” and said that the use of force against protesters would alienate large sections of society.
“It is painful to see young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi. Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution,” he wrote in a post on X.
“I fervently hope that this is not treated merely as a law-and-order issue to be tackled through the use of force. It is very painful to see that even young girls were brutally mishandled. Such use of force shall alienate large sections of Indian society from the national goal of Viksit Bharat.”
It is painful to see young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi. Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution. I fervently…
— Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (@DrMurliManohar_) July 23, 2026
One of the BJP’s founding members, Joshi’s comments follow similar calls from long-time supporters of the NDA government. A day earlier, former BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai and Art of Living founder Ravi Shankar urged the Union government to engage with the protesters.
Annamalai said the protests were the result of repeated failures in conducting the examination and the absence of accountability. Shankar, likewise, said young people deserved to be heard with patience.
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Jyotirmath seer Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati also criticised the Union government’s response to the student protests, saying the events unfolding at Jantar Mantar were a result of the government’s persistent failure to listen to citizens.
“The situation is that whatever is happening at Jantar Mantar is not a good sign at all for India’s democracy. India has a democratic government, but it simply does not listen to the voice of the people. If a government stops listening to the people’s voice, then where will the people go? Eventually, they will have to take matters into their own hands,” he told Aaj Tak.
He said that if the government continues to ignore the demands, the Prime Minister might one day have to seek asylum elsewhere.
“Right now, they have given asylum to a leader who fled to a neighboring country. One day, these people too may have to run away and seek refuge somewhere. Didn’t they have to flee from Parliament? Even now, they are hiding by running from one building to another. But if they still refuse to listen, where will they hide in the future?” he said.
“A person sat there for twenty days without food or water. You did not even consider it appropriate to speak with him. You could have at least sent a junior district magistrate. That would have conveyed that, at the very least, the government was willing to engage in dialogue. But you did not even talk to him or hear him out. Everything has its limits.”
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
