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Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Central Government following a meeting with student protesters who had participated in demonstrations at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against alleged irregularities in the NEET examinations.
Interacting with young activists, including Mumbai-based protester Riya Ahir, Jharkhand resident Nutan Toppo, and others who detailed instances of physical assault, police brutality, and targeted harassment, Gandhi accused the government of trying to crush democratic dissent. Focusing heavily on reports of coercion directed at a minor, Gandhi termed the attempts to extract apologies an absolute outrage. "Forcing them first, sending goons to their house, forcibly demanding an apology of a 15-year-old girl and then accepting that apology is complete nonsense. We do not accept it. We want an education system that works, we want exam leaks to stop and we want the future of this country to be respected and protected," he said. Criticising the state of India's educational framework and the heavy-handed response of law enforcement, Gandhi commended the resilience of the students who stood up for accountability. "Complaining about the education system, which is a flawed system, a collapsing system, a useless system, is not a crime. If anything, the system needs to be changed; it needs to be corrected. That is all they were asking for. They were not doing violence, they were not being aggressive, they were not being nasty. They were beaten, assaulted and threatened," he said. Directing his critique at the top leadership, Gandhi alleged that the government lacked the moral courage to face questions directly, pointing fingers squarely at the Union Home Minister. "They are young people who are standing here, in front of India's press. But Amit Shah and the Prime Minister don't have the courage to stand here. The person who is responsible for this violence, the person who had the pellet gun fired into this young lady, is Amit Shah - the Home Minister of India. He does not have the decency to come to Parliament; he does not have the decency or the courage to comment on what has happened," said Gandhi. "There are only two possibilities: One, he did not know that this violence was being carried out on the children, in which case he is incompetent. Two, he ordered the shooting of the pellet gun and the violence on these children. It means he is culpable. Either way, he is responsible," he added. During the interaction, several young protesters shared harrowing accounts of their experiences during the demonstrations. Riya Ahir described how she faced harassment and struggled to secure a copy of her FIR after intervening to protect fellow students from forcible arrest during the Dadar protest. Ahir said she prevented the students from being forcibly arrested. "According to the media, I stopped the bus, but I am the girl who prevented the students from being forcibly arrested. The children I stood up for are now standing up for me," she said. She alleged harassment over her action during the recent protest and said, "I'm being harassed because of what I did. Not just the public, even party members are posting on their Facebook pages and saying all sorts of things about me. I registered a crime on the 27th, but I haven't received a copy of the FIR yet." Jharkhand resident Nutan Toppo alleged that she sustained direct injuries from pellet fire during the July 20 protest at Jantar Mantar. "I saw with my own eyes that the gun was fired in front of me. As I stood there, the gun was fired from behind. I know very well that I was hit by gunfire at Jantar Mantar on the 20th," she said. Fahranaz & Muskan raised serious allegations regarding police excesses, communal profiling, and unprovoked baton charges by security personnel during peaceful assembly. Fahranaz from Uttar Pradesh alleged police excesses during the demonstration. "Police goons were brutally beating me. The police said I was in a bus. He made us sit and asked us to make a separate list because he is a traitor to the country," she alleged. She further claimed, "When we were holding a peaceful protest on the 20th, these police goons brutally assaulted us. Then they said that if we continue to file an appeal, we will also file an appeal directly. Even after this, the police said that they judged Muslims by name and said that a separate list of them would be prepared because they are traitors." "What I am saying is that if people continue to file appeals like this, we will not stop. We will always stand up for our country and our rights," Fahranaz added. Another protester, Muskan, questioned the alleged use of force during the protest. "Why did you kill me when I was walking peacefully? Why did a male RAF officer charge me? And if it was for this, who ordered them? I want to be a Muslim, so I can get a lot of happiness too," she said. She further added, "While I was walking peacefully, I was hit by an RAF man in my thigh. Everyone thinks I'm Muslim, but I'm a Sharma. Just because I'm Muslim, how can an anti-national narrative be created?" Bharat Banait denounced the events as the "darkest day of my life," criticising the severe use of force deployed when students demanded institutional accountability. Bharat Banait said, "I have never seen such a dark day in my life as what happened that day. Those whose heads were broken had their legs broken." "On July 20, when we demanded the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, they subjected us to such atrocities and brutality that they beat us so brutally. If we had demanded Amit Shah's resignation, they might have fired bullets at us and created a border," he alleged. "Till now, I have never seen such a day in my life. It was the darkest day of my life. If we had not stayed at Jantar Mantar that day, it would have been the end of democracy," Banait added. This comes as the Opposition has been consistently attacking the Union government over alleged irregularities in NEET and other competitive examinations, accusing it of failing to ensure accountability and transparency in the examination system. In a bid to curb examination paper leaks and unfair practices, Parliament passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 during the ongoing Monsoon Session. (ANI)
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