Owaisi Slams Centre’s NSA Move Against Student Protesters: “Are Young Indians a Threat to National Security?”
In a searing indictment of the Modi government’s handling of the ongoing NEET paper-leak protests, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday accused the Centre of hypocrisy and authoritarianism after the Ministry of Home Affairs empowered the Delhi Police Commissioner to detain people under the National Security Act (NSA), 1980.The order, effective for three months from July 19 to October 18, authorises Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar to exercise preventive detention powers under Section 3 of the NSA. This allows authorities to hold individuals for up to 12 months without formal charges if they are deemed a threat to national security or public order. The move comes amid intensifying demonstrations by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar, where students whose futures have been upended by alleged exam irregularities have clashed with police. Speaking to reporters outside a red-sandstone landmark in the capital, Owaisi delivered a blistering response that cut straight to the heart of the controversy:
“The Prime Minister is saying one thing, but today his government empowered the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act (NSA) to detain people for up to 12 months. Is the protest at Jantar Mantar a threat to national security? Nearly half the country’s population is under 25. These young people, whose futures have been ruined, are protesting for their rights. But the Modi government calls them a threat to national security and wants the NSA invoked against them. On one hand, the government talks about a special court; on the other, it seeks to detain protesters for up to 12 months under the NSA without disclosing the grounds. How is this protest a threat to national security? The government has completely mismanaged the situation, and the responsibility lies with it.”
Owaisi’s words land like a direct challenge: while the Prime Minister speaks of fast-track courts to punish those behind paper leaks, the same government arms police with one of the most stringent preventive detention laws in the country – laws historically reserved for threats far graver than students demanding accountability.
The AIMIM leader framed the protests not as disorder but as the legitimate cry of a generation robbed of opportunity. With nearly half of India under 25, he argued, treating these youth as national security risks exposes a profound failure of governance. The contrast he drew is stark: promises of justice on one side, the shadow of year-long detention without stated grounds on the other.
As tension continues to simmer at Jantar Mantar, Owaisi’s intervention sharpens the political battle lines. The question he left hanging – how does a student protest become a threat to the nation? – now hangs over the capital.
