NEW DELHI, JUL 30 (AGENCIES): The Opposition on Thursday intensified its demand for Union home minister Amit Shah’s resignation over the police crackdown on demonstrators during the Cockroach Janta Party-led march to Parliament on July 20, with several leaders questioning his absence from Parliament and demanding an apology to protesters.
Speaking during the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge held Shah responsible for the alleged police excesses against students and warned that “Jan Shakti” (people’s power) would one day “drag him out” to make him accountable.
Kharge criticised the absence of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah despite the unrest, asking why the home minister had remained silent. “You are the Home Minister, and despite so much unrest, you are not opening your mouth. Has someone stitched it?” he asked.
He said Shah should resign if he could not explain who ordered the lathi-charge, tear-gas attack and the deployment of plainclothes personnel against students. Kharge also alleged that students were fired upon with AK-47 rifles in states such as Bihar and West Bengal and warned that the country’s youth would teach the government “a bigger lesson”.
Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose said Shah could not evade responsibility and demanded that he appear in Parliament, make a statement, apologise to students and answer their questions, failing which he should resign. She also criticised the amendment Bill, saying it merely enhanced punishment without introducing examination reforms.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attacked Shah on X, describing his absence from Parliament as an act “reeking of guilt” and asking why he was “so scared” of explaining the alleged violence against students.
In a separate Facebook post, Gandhi said paper leaks would continue unless the system changed. A day earlier, he had sought Shah’s dismissal and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the alleged use of pellet guns against protesters, arguing that if Shah had ordered the action he was culpable, and if he was unaware of it, he was incompetent.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh cited a medico-legal report of a petitioner before the Supreme Court, claiming it showed metallic pellets had been recovered from a protester’s body. He alleged that “significantly more dangerous metal pellets” had been used by the CRPF and demanded a parliamentary discussion, saying Shah must account for his actions on July 20.
BJP reacts to Oppn: BJP party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said Kharge’s remarks reflected the Congress’ “petty mindset” and “defeated mindset”.
He said Kharge had modified his remarks after protests by BJP members, but his “real mindset stood exposed”.
Trivedi also accused Rahul Gandhi and Kharge of using objectionable language out of frustration over repeated electoral defeats, asserting that such attacks on the prime minister and home minister would not succeed and had further lowered the Congress in the eyes of the people.
