On Wednesday, Opposition MPs, led by Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, staged a foot march through the Parliament complex in Delhi. Marching from the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar, they raised thunderous slogans: “Amit Shah, jawab do!” The protest targeted two explosive issues, the alleged brutality unleashed on students during the July 20 Sansad Chalo march and the purported theft of offerings (chadhawa chori) at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The core of the outrage centres on the treatment of young protesters. Students had gathered at Jantar Mantar over repeated NEET paper leaks that shattered careers and dreams. As they attempted to march toward Parliament, security forces responded with lathi charges, tear gas, shock batons, lathis allegedly fitted with nails, and pellet guns. One 19-year-old student faces the near-certain loss of vision in one eye after being hit by pellets; medical certificates from AIIMS have been cited as evidence. Reports confirm that Rapid Action Force personnel fired multiple rounds of pellets on orders from a Delhi Police deputy superintendent.
Why the intense pressure on Home Minister Amit Shah? Delhi Police and the paramilitary forces involved fall squarely under the Union Home Ministry. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly charged that Shah was not a passive bystander. Gandhi claims he personally witnessed Shah making calls to police officers and repeatedly contacting Minister of State Jitendra Singh while the crackdown unfolded outside Parliament. “Either he ordered the use of pellet guns, nail-fitted lathis and electric batons, or he was unaware,” Gandhi has declared. “If he ordered it, he is culpable. If he did not know, he is incompetent. In either case, he must go.”
The government has denied that bullets were fired, insisting only tear gas was used and that any order to open fire rests with a magistrate, not a minister. Yet the Opposition refuses to accept this evasion. Shah’s prolonged absence from the House has only fuelled accusations that he is dodging accountability.
Alongside the student issue, MPs placed symbolic donation boxes to highlight alleged embezzlement of Ram Temple offerings, raising cries of “chanda chor, gaddi chor.”The Modi government cannot run from responsibility. The future of India’s youth was met with pellets and batons. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah must come to the House and answer the fundamental question that will not fade: Who ordered the bullets?
