Rahul demands Shah's sacking for 'brutalities' on students; BJP accuses him of spreading lies

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, July 29, demanded the sacking of Home Minister Amit Shah and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into what he claimed was a "brutal attack" on protesting students and use of pellet guns on them, a charge rejected by the BJP as "lie".

Gandhi alleged that by ordering the "brutalities" on students, Shah was culpable and hence should be removed. He said in case Shah did not know about the use of pellet guns on protesters, he was incompetent and in that case also should be sacked.

The BJP hit back, accusing Gandhi of telling a "bundle of lies", and demanded he apologise for "misusing" the House by making "baseless" allegations.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju rejected Gandhi's charges and accused him of trying to mislead the House by claiming that Shah ordered police firing during the protests over NEET paper leak.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also sought to debunk Gandhi's claims. "Rahul Gandhi said that bullets were fired at the students. He lied. No bullet was fired. He also lied that Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the firing."

Gandhi started his attack on Shah in Lok Sabha while speaking on the debate on the bill seeking to make stricter punishment for paper leaks. He alleged Shah was behind police excesses and firing against student protesters, triggering a massive uproar inside and outside Parliament.

Many of Gandhi's remarks made in Lok Sabha were later expunged by the Speaker, but the Congress leader repeated his charges outside Parliament.

In a post on X, he said the BJP can turn off his microphone in Parliament but not the "chhatron ki goonj" (voice of the students).

"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," he told reporters outside Parliament while questioning why Shah did not come to the house.

Later addressing a press conference at the AICC office, the leader of opposition claimed that he was not allowed to speak in Lok Sabha and everytime he tries to speak there, he is "silenced".

Shah ordered that students be shot with pellet guns and beaten with lathis having nails or he was unaware, Gandhi alleged, referring to the crackdown by security forces during the July 20 Cockroach Janta Party-led protest march to Parliament.

"If he ordered it, he is culpable and if he did not know then he is incompetent," Gandhi said at the presser, adding that pellet guns cannot be used without the Home Minister's permission. He also said both Delhi Police and RAF both report to Shah.

Claiming that Shah was "guilty" and that is the reason he did not attend Parliament. "If he was not guilty, he could have come and replied".

"Our advice to the government is to sack Amit Shah and order an independent high-powered committee monitored by the Supreme Court" to probe his involvement, he said, claiming that Shah will be held accountable in any case.

"Shah must go, he has shot our students and he must be held accountable," Gandhi alleged.

Accusing him of having no guts to face Parliament, Gandhi said, "we are not going to let him get away".

Gandhi said an image had been created that Shah is the "hero of the nation" and Modi is like 'God' but that "image balloon has burst".

"A balloon was inflated. Thousands of crores of rupees were squandered to inflate that balloon... Why are children being threatened to protect their image so that they don't come on the streets? But they do not understand that the image balloon has already burst," Gandhi claimed.

He claimed that after he spoke in Parliament, some BJP leaders asked him to apologise and only then would he be allowed to speak in Parliament.

"I was asked to apologise, but I will never ever apologise to the BJP or RSS or any other person associated with them," he asserted.

He claimed that he was doing this press conference because he was concerned that in the shadows, the establishment is now silently attacking the students who were on dharna. He claimed the authorities are using facial recognition to beat up and threaten the students.

Gandhi lauded the students for being brave in withstanding the "brutalities" of police and assured them that he will fight for them till every student hurt gets justice.

Asked about the passage of the anti-paper leak bill, he said, "it was not worth discussing". He added the bill does not mention how to stop paper leaks, but only mentions increasing the punishment.

He claimed that the government accepts and expects paper leaks in future too, as there is no point of increasing quantum of punishment when nobody has been convicted yet under the existing law.

"The bill is not even like a band-aid when you need a surgery (of the system)", he remarked. "The bill has been put in place so that the RSS can escape."

Noting that "brutalisation of our students" assault on our students is a fundamental issue, he said, "... I saw with my own eyes Amit Shah calling the police officers... I saw Jitendra Singh getting call after call from Shah, so he knew what was going on the streets."

Pointing to a picture of Shah on the screen at the press conference, Gandhi said to students, "This is the man who beat you, thrashed you, humiliated you and shot you with pellet guns."

"We will ensure that the students who were beaten get justice, and people who shot students with pellet guns are punished," he said.

"So it is our advice to the prime minister -- sack Shah and order a probe monitored by an independent high-powered committee of the Supreme Court," he said.