Rahul Gandhi posted on X this week, alleging that tribal students marching from Nashik to Mumbai were illegally taken into custody by the Fadnavis administration before they could stage a demonstration at Azad Maidan. These youngsters, many of whom had traveled by bus or on foot, sought basic facilities in tribal ashram schools, hostels and scholarships—rights that every child in the state claims.
Gandhi said the students were first stranded in Mumbai because no accommodation was available. The Congress party then moved them into Tilak Bhavan, a party headquarters in Dadar, where police allegedly barged in at midnight and hauled off the protestors. "The same people who had walked all the way from Nashik were taken away," Gandhi tweeted, adding a video of the event.
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal warned that the party would gherao Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ official residence if the detained students and NSUI leaders were not released. He also accused the police of threatening the teenagers and taking some of them into custody, claiming that National Students' Union of India state president Sagar Salunkhe and the Mumbai youth wing head were among those arrested.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Manish Kalwaniya rebutted the claims, saying no arrests were made from Tilak Bhavan and that protesters who had called to march to Lok Bhawan were being detained elsewhere. “No one was arrested from Tilak Bhavan as is being claimed,” Kalwaniya said.
The controversy has put the Fadnavis government under fire from opposition lawmakers, who say that the police action reflects a broader anti‑tribal stance. The protests, which have already drawn attention from students across Maharashtra, are set to continue as the government faces mounting pressure to address the students’ demands.