Sooner or later, Amit Shah will have to answer : Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Home Minister Amit Shah of remaining silent over alleged police action against students protesting paper leaks in Delhi. He demanded accountability, saying batons and pellets were used against young protesters and Parliament remained deadlocked over the issue

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday questioned Home Minister Amit Shah’s silence over alleged police brutalities against protesting students and asserted that sooner or later, the BJP leader would have to answer for “this crime”.

Gandhi said a student told him during his “Chhatron ki Goonj” event in Prayagraj on Saturday that he has “no options left now”. “This is exactly what a student told me in Prayagraj yesterday. Years of preparation, selling the family land, parents burdened with debt and yet, nothing to show for it,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

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This is not his failure, it is the failure of a system that refused to reward his hard work, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha added.

Several days have passed since the students protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over alleged paper leaks have called off their agitation, yet not a single word has come from Shah on the action taken by the Delhi Police against them, he said.

“Instead of apologising, Modiji is busy dispensing ‘forgiveness’,” Gandhi said. “Amit Shahji, do not think for a moment that we will stop demanding accountability. Batons and pellets were used against young people on the streets of the capital — and you did not utter a single word. Sooner or later, you will have to answer for this crime,” he said.

Gandhi asserted that students are the light of the nation, and said he stands with them with all his might. Both Houses of Parliament remain deadlocked over the opposition’s demand that Shah should make a statement in both Houses on the alleged police brutalities during the students’ July 20 protest over the paper-leak issue.

Most of the legislative business has been conducted amid din. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed Shah last week for not making a statement in Parliament over the alleged police brutalities on students and said the home minister did not come to the Rajya Sabha despite Chairman C P Radhakrishnan noting that he should speak in the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha on Friday that the opposition cannot dictate which minister will come to the House and respond to their questions, amid the demand from the Congress and other parties that Shah should give answers to queries on the recent police action on protesting students.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi greeted Indian Youth Congress members on the organisation’s foundation day. “India’s greatest strength is its youth, and IYC has a proud legacy of giving young Indians a platform — amplifying their voices, raising their concerns, and fighting for their rights, dreams and aspirations,” he said in a post on X. “Today, when our youth are fighting against a system that is rigged against them, IYC is standing with them every step of the way,” he added.