Mumbai, September 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has expressed grief over the death of 20-year-old IIT-Bombay student Sahil Wakode and urged that the incident should not divert attention from broader concerns surrounding India’s education system.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Thackeray cautioned against framing every tragedy primarily through caste or religious identities, saying such debates could shift focus away from systemic issues in education.
Wakode, a second-year BTech student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, died by suicide on September 18.
Thackeray said examination invigilators were required to enforce institutional rules, but argued that a deceased student should not be conclusively branded a wrongdoer before an official inquiry is completed. At the same time, he said faculty members should not be held guilty solely on the basis of allegations that have not been established.
Reflecting on developments since 2000, Thackeray said caste considerations had increasingly entered classrooms and workplaces in Maharashtra. He said even premier educational institutions, once described by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as “temples of modern India”, were now being drawn into caste-related debates.
The MNS chief also highlighted the academic and career pressures faced by students, including highly competitive entrance examinations, demanding coursework and uncertainty over campus placements. He said these challenges were not confined to engineering institutions but extended to commerce, arts and medical education as well.
Thackeray urged student organisations and youth leaders to keep their focus on systemic reforms rather than allowing debates over caste and religion to overshadow the underlying concerns.
“The issue is not about which specific government is in power,” he said, arguing that the commercialisation of education over several decades had caused significant damage to the system and that structural changes were required.
He also referred to recent youth-led movements and said their nationwide support had been linked to their focus on systemic shortcomings. He urged students to continue raising questions about educational reforms and accountability.
Thackeray called for a broader overhaul of higher education, including stronger institutional accountability, mental-health support systems and fair academic practices, while cautioning against allowing identity-based divisions to overshadow these issues.
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