NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday dismissed opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims that Union Home Minister Amit Shah authorized police action against student protesters. The government insisted that no shots were fired during the crackdown on July 20, which targeted demonstrators marching to Parliament regarding the NEET paper leak issue.
In response to Gandhi’s allegations made during a Lok Sabha debate on a bill to amend the anti-paper leaks law, Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated, “It was repeatedly clarified that no shots were fired; tear gas was used. Since no shots were fired, the question of issuing an order does not arise. The authority to issue such an order rests with the magistrate, not the minister.”
Gandhi had suggested that Shah had “authorized” violent actions against students, asserting, “The home minister is not here today because he is scared,” which provoked strong protests from government members. Speaker Om Birla intervened, reminding Gandhi that the discussion was not about the home minister and requested evidence to support his claims. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to Gandhi’s remarks, stating, “On what basis have you said this? This is highly objectionable. You should apologise.”
During his speech, Gandhi also accused the RSS of influencing the education system, claiming, “The soul of the system has been captured by the RSS. Dharmendra Pradhan never ran the education ministry. The man and organisation that run the ministry is called the RSS.”
Defending the student protests, Gandhi expressed that he was “very excited” and “reassured” by the demonstrations, describing them as “deep expressions of the youth of this country.” However, his speech caused another disruption after he used a term deemed “unparliamentary” by the Chair. Gandhi maintained that he was quoting a student’s description and was not referring to any member of the House. Speaker Birla subsequently ordered that the expression be expunged from the parliamentary record.
