'Student' says 'forced' to protest against Congress, 'urban maxwell'; 'no role,' says Galgotias University

NEW DELHI: A recent students’ protest against the Congress party went viral on social media for all wrong reasons as they failed to answer the motive behind the strike. The video received severe criticism from netizens and the students were heavily trolled on X. A student who claimed to be studying in Galgotias University took to X to apologize and alleged that ‘the university forced them to gather’ and protest against the Congress party. However, later in the day, a student clarified that she did not post on X and that the account was fake.

When Careers360 approached the pro-vice chancellor of Galgotias University, Avadhesh Kumar said: "University has no role in this. Students might have gone for protests, but the university has no political inclination. Government may come and go…”

The fake X user, namely Laxmi Sharma, wrote on X: “We have realized our mistakes. Humko nahi pata tha propaganda hai. Humse to bola tha kangana ranaut se milne ka chance milega (We did not know that it was propaganda. We were told that we will get a chance to meet actor Kangana Ranaut).”

“On behalf of the student council, I apologize to everyone. University management forced us to gather and handed us those placards. We don’t have the budget for such good printed posters.”

“My dream is to become an IAS. We are apolitical mostly but we were promised to give full internal marks by the management. They told us you will get the chance to meet Kangana Ranaut who recently joined politics and asked us to raise strong statements against the Congress party. But we were not aware of ground reality. Please forgive us,” the tweet read.

Later in the day, a female student named Tanveen Ahmed in a video statement said that she is a BTech student at Galgotias University and added: “I am well aware of the protest. I came to know that someone has created a fake account to apologize (for failing to understand the motive of the protest). I request you all not to believe anything you see on the internet and I request you to report the ID, Laxmi Sharma.”

The video of Aaj Tak reporter Ashutosh Mishra asking the protesting students about their motive behind the inheritance tax and wealth distribution went viral after the students could not respond to the questions. In the purported video, a student tries to explain but ends up saying “aap kisi aur se pooch lo (please ask someone else)”. Another student could not read the term ‘Urban Naxals’ in the placard, instead he said ‘Urban Maxwell’. They were trolled on social media for their ignorance.

These students reached Congress headquarters to protest against them but then they met @JournoAshutosh . The rest is for you to see. ???

pic.twitter.com/3kTJxxAsKC

— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) May 1, 2024

(This copy was updated to include the video statement of Galgotias University student)