'We didn't stop them...: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's first reaction on student protests

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (July 26) gave her first reaction on the student protest in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar and said that the government never stopped the protest. She also opined that young generations find it ideal to join protest. She also pressed that the ruling BJP government did not undermine the enormity of the protest. Praising the former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, she said that steps were taken and people involved in NEET paper leak were arrested.

“I'm not undermining what happened in the last couple of weeks… I'm not undermining their energy. But the young in every generation join protests. Every generation joins protests in its youth, young people are moved by issues they see as less than ideal, seek the right response and corrective measures and want to make a difference,” she said at an NDTV event. About the government's take on the protests, she said, “Give respect to the protest. We have not stopped them from protesting. The permission was given... We didn't try at any point in time to stop the protest.”

Also Read: Was CJP not controlling the protest? What spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka told WION after Pradhan's resignation

Revealing what the GEnZ wants, the finance minister said, “They want good, responsive, correct measures, timely measures and that's only right. And therefore they tend to protest because they think they should make the difference and I'm happy for it because that's the spirit of the young. I have no second opinion on that. But the difference lies when you're ready to understand where they come from and respond accordingly. I'm happy to say this is a legacy of every generation when it is young and it happens in every country... We have to keep our ears closer to the ground so that we hear and understand what's going on."

Also Read: 'No space for violence': What CJP's Ashutosh Ranka told WION about attack on journalists at Jantar Mantar protest

Revealing plans of the the government, Sitharaman said the government needed to work on improving its communication with young people by using language that was easier for them to understand, less verbose and less bureaucratic. However, she pointed out that the government faced certain limitations as its statements were subject to legal scrutiny. She said the government could not use ambiguous or overly casual language, as its statements could be interpreted by courts, and therefore its communication had to be framed in language that could withstand legal scrutiny.