Vinay Kumar
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday rejected leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi‘s allegation that Union home minister Amit Shah had authorised police excesses against student protesters, insisting that no shots were fired during the July 20 crackdown on demonstrators marching to Parliament over the NEET paper leak issue.Responding to Rahul’s remarks in the Lok Sabha, Union minister Jitendra Singh said, “It was repeatedly clarified that no shots were fired; tear gas was used. Since no shots were fired, the question of issuing an order does not arise. The authority to issue such an order rests with the magistrate, not the minister…”The clarification came after Rahul alleged during a debate on the Bill to amend the anti-paper leaks law that Shah had “authorised” violent action against students. “The home minister is not here today because he is scared,” Gandhi said, prompting strong protests from the treasury benches.Speaker Om Birla intervened, reminding the Lok Sabha LoP that the discussion was not about the home minister and asking him to provide evidence to support the allegation.Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju also objected to the remarks, saying, “On what basis have you said this? This is highly objectionable. You should apologise.”During his speech, the LoP also accused the RSS of exerting influence over the education system, claiming, “The soul of the system has been captured by the RSS. Dharmendra Pradhan never ran the education ministry. The man and organisation that run the ministry is called the RSS.”Defending the student protests, Gandhi said he was “very excited” and “reassured” by the demonstrations, describing them as “an expression, deep expressions of the youth of this country”.His speech later triggered another uproar after he used a term that the Chair ruled “unparliamentary”. Gandhi maintained he was quoting a student’s description and not referring to any member of the House. Speaker Birla directed that the expression be expunged from the parliamentary record.
