NEW DELHI: In a no-holds-barred attack, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah was behind police excesses and firing against student protesters, triggering a massive uproar inside and outside Parliament.
The BJP hit back, accusing Gandhi of telling a "bundle of lies", and sought his apology for "misusing" the House by making "baseless" allegations.
Many of Gandhi's remarks made during a debate in the Lok Sabha on the bill to amend the anti-paper leak law were later expunged by the Speaker, but the Congress leader repeated his allegations outside Parliament again.
While targeting Shah, Gandhi also took an oblique dig at the BJP and its core supporters by referring to three categories -- students, those who think they know everything and pretend to be God, and the "andhbhakt" who believe the second category is God.
Participating in the debate on The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill-2026, Gandhi claimed that the home minister is not present in the Lok Sabha because he is "scared".
His remark drew objections from the treasury benches.
The home minister was behind violent action against students, the Congress leader alleged, referring to the crackdown by security forces during the march to Parliament on July 20 during the CJP-led protest over the NEET paper leak issue.
"The so-called home minister of this country does not have the courage to come and sit here.
.
.
Why is the home minister not here today? The home minister is not here today because he is scared.
He put pellets into the blood of our students," Gandhi said.
Speaker Om Birla immediately intervened, saying the discussion was not on the home minister and added that Gandhi must provide proof to substantiate his allegations.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to Gandhi's remarks and demanded he apologise.
"On what basis have you said this? This is highly objectionable.
You should apologise," Rijiju said.
The House was adjourned twice due to the uproar over Gandhi's remarks and he could not complete his address.
Later, while speaking in the House, Union minister Jitendra Singh said no bullet was fired and only tear gas was used.
"'Jab goli chali hi nahi, toh aadesh dene ka sawal hi paida nahi hota; aur aadesh dene ka adhikar magistrate ke pass rahta hai, mantri ke pas nahi' (when there were no bullets fired, the question of authorising it does not arise, and the directive to open fire is given by the magistrate, not a minister)," he said.
Speaking to reporters in the Parliament House complex later, Gandhi said, "There can be just two options; the home minister gave the order for firing (at protesters), the other is that the home minister did not know that there will be firing.
In the first case, he is culpable.
In the second case, he is incompetent, there can be no other option.
" "Supposedly the brave home minister of India, why is he not in the House? If he has not done anything, why is he not coming? It is my right to speak in Parliament and I should have this right," the LoP said.
In the Lok Sabha, Gandhi also hit out at the RSS, accusing it of influencing the education system and shaping what students are taught.
"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.
" "They (students) have to buy this nonsensical history that RSS fantasises about.
Pradhan is the symbol.
Your real enemy is the RSS.
They are the people who want you to be andhbhakts," Gandhi said and alleged that all universities in the country have a vice chancellor from the RSS.
Gandhi said he was "very excited" and "reassured" by the student protests over the NEET paper leak issue and described them as an expression of the youth.
"This was not anger, not violence, not hatred; this was an expression, deep expressions of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country.
"All parties should respect this expression, including my friends in the BJP.
If my friends in the BJP were to go and ask their own children about what their brothers and sisters were doing, they would find agreement among their own children.
There is nothing wrong with what happened, and every Indian should be proud," he said.
Gandhi said a conversation with a group of students gave him perspective on how young people view education and knowledge.
Recalling the interaction, Gandhi said he asked a student what it meant to be a student.
"Does it mean you study in a college, in a school, you read books? She said a student is someone who has an open mind (and) an open heart.
" "A student is someone who accepts that he does not know everything.
Whatever he knows will be superseded by new knowledge.
He knows the universe is dynamic.
He also understands that knowledge is constantly changing.
The most important quality, she said, that a student has is humility," he said.
Gandhi said the student also described another category of people who believed they knew everything and are arrogant, don't listen and don't respect other people's truth, and used a word to describe them, but was found unparliamentary by the Chair and expunged.
The remark triggered an uproar in the House, with Speaker Birla asking Gandhi to focus on the debate.
Rijiju also objected to the use of the word.
Gandhi, however, said he was attributing the term to a student and was not referring to any member of the House.
He further said the student told him that the hallmark of a student was that they "wear the truth on their chest", while the other category needed to create an image.
He said that the protests, though centred around examinations, reflected wider concerns about the education system.
Gandhi said the parents of these children did not have the courage to face the BJP or the RSS.
"And yet these children, brave, imaginative and powerful, stood there and faced everything that was thrown at them," he said.
"They challenged the idea that you, the BJP and the RSS, could destroy them and their careers," Gandhi said.
(This is an updated version of an earlier story after removing expunged remarks)
