Shah to reply to debate on student protests: Rijiju

The Union Government on Monday announced that it is ready for a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the student protests, police action on students across the country and Union Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah will reply to the debate, provided the Opposition promises not to disrupt and listens peacefully.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s announcement came shortly after a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Lok Sabha where the agenda of the House for the next three days was discussed with members from different political parties.

“We have made it clear to the BAC of the Lok Sabha that the government is ready for a full-fledged discussion on the student and youth agitations that have been going on in different parts of the country as well as police action. The home minister will give point-by-point reply to the debate on behalf of the government,” he told reporters after the meeting of the BAC held in Parliament House complex.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said the country is not interested in Shah’s speech in Parliament on general topics and asserted that the Union home minister must come clean on who authorised the firing of pellet guns on the protesting students. He said PM Modi and home minister Shah have not had the courage to come to the House for over 15 days and neither of them has had the “guts to own up to what they have done.”

There has been a persistent demand from the Opposition for a statement from Home Minister Shah on the police action against students protesting in the Capital last month. Shah has not been seen in the House in the ongoing Monsoon Session even though he has been regularly coming to Parliament House complex.

The Congress, however, said the Opposition’s demand for statements by Shah on alleged police brutalities against students and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Ram temple donation theft on the floor of the House cannot be delinked in a last-ditch effort by the Government to break Opposition unity.

The Monsoon session, which started on July 20, has seen repeated adjournments and virtually no business except the debate on the anti-paper leaks bill — The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 — which was passed by Parliament. The opposition parties initially protested over the NEET paper leak and alleged theft of donations at the Ayodhya Ram temple. They later pressed for a discussion on police action against students protesting over the NEET paper leak and also demanded the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister and their statements.