Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged in the Lok Sabha that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had “authorised the shooting of our students” during the nationwide youth protests.
“He put the pellets into the blood of our students,” the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said. “He ordered the students of India to be shot.”
Gandhi also questioned Shah’s absence from the House and claimed that the students had raised “uncomfortable questions” that the home ministry was “too scared to answer”.
His comments triggered an uproar in the Lok Sabha, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju demanding that Gandhi apologise or provide evidence for the allegation, saying the House could not function without clarification.
Speaker Om Birla said statements made in Parliament must be backed by facts and warned that such remarks could not be made without the findings of an official inquiry.
“Unless you have a basis to say what you said, it can’t be taken on record,” Birla said.
In response, Gandhi said that “the use of force can only be authorised by the home minister or the prime minister”.
During his speech on the anti-paper leak bill, Gandhi also alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, controlled the education system in the country through the education ministry and said that the resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was “superficial”.
“They [students] are not allowed to follow their passion, say what they want or ask the questions they want,” Gandhi said. “Instead, they have to buy this nonsensical history that the RSS sells.”
The agitation in Delhi began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Pradhan from his post over alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams. Pradhan resigned on Saturday.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.
A day after the pellet guns were fired, the Delhi Police had denied using the weapon against the protesters. However, reports said that the pellet guns had been carried by the Rapid Action Force, a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force that was also deployed at the protest, as part of its riot-control equipment.
The police in the national capital and the Central Reserve Police Force report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.
Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
*Also read: *
- Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protests
- Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here
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