Rahul Gandhi has said Amit Shah first has to answer why Delhi Police acted the way it did at Cockroach Janta Party’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ march on July 20.
Dharmendra Pradhan is gone from Narendra Modi’s cabinet, and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) stir is over, but Congress-led Opposition isn’t closing the file yet, as Monday sees resumption of the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament. The House — disrupted since the session began on July 20, also the day CJP’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ march faced violent police action on the streets near Parliament — is set for a two-track clash now, one involving home minister Amit Shah as the target after Pradhan.
The government is keen to push further with its promise of exam reforms. The bill for a tougher law against paper leaks is set for Monday, after Modi also formed a committee under all-season technocrat Nandan Nilekani of Infosys and Aadhaar fame.
But the INDIA bloc led by Rahul Gandhi wants to keep the spotlight on the July 20 police action, the Gen-Z-driven online-offline energy of the protest having already pushed the Modi government onto the back foot.
What Rahul wants
Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi already announced his target on Saturday after Pradhan resigned.
“Someone’s hand was broken, someone’s leg, someone’s rib. Pellet guns-like deadly weapons were used, and many were injured so severely that they became critical. These are all directly the responsibility of home minister Amit Shah,” said Gandhi, who ran a parallel protest-cum-awareness drive on paper leaks for weeks even as the CJP came on the scene on the NEET-UG paper leak.
On Sunday, in a letter to the home minister, Gandhi asked whether he had personally cleared the use of pellet guns and other force against protesters.
“I met 19-year-old student Sahil Lochab, who is now in severe pain and is likely to lose an eye because he was shot with pellet guns,” the Congress MP wrote. “Security forces deployed in Delhi answer ultimately to you, so I ask: As Home Minister, did you approve the use of lethal force, including pellet guns against students? If not, who did?” the letter said.
He also asked who had authorised the deployment of men in plain clothes seen beating students with lathis, and whether they were police personnel or “volunteers”.
TMC’s Rule 267 notice
Separately, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose has moved a notice under Rule 267 seeking suspension of the day’s business on Monday to allow an immediate discussion on the alleged use of “lethal and semi-lethal force” against protesters, including reports of pellet gun injuries attributed to the Rapid Action Force.
INDIA bloc parties are thus expected to raise the issue in both Houses. Delhi Police has denied that its personnel used pellet guns during the protest; the CRPF, under whose remit the RAF falls, has not issued a public response to the specific allegations.
Government’s bill move
The Centre, meanwhile, is set to introduce the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha on Monday, to be moved by minister of state Jitendra Singh, who has also served as the government’s interlocutor with protesters alongside health minister JP Nadda.
The bill had already been announced by Modi in a midnight video before Pradhan’s resignation came as the CJP and Rahul said the demand was “non-negotiable”.
The bill, which did not suffice on its own to calm the protests, proposes to substantially raise penalties under the original 2024 law.
- For individuals, the minimum jail term rises from three to five years and the maximum from five to 10 years, while the maximum fine increases five-fold to ₹50 lakh.
- Service providers face fines of up to ₹5 crore, up from ₹1 crore, and blacklisting of up to eight years.
- Directors or senior management of service provider firms face a minimum five-year term, up from three, with fines up to ₹5 crore.
- For organised crime linked to paper leaks, the minimum term rises to seven years and the minimum fine to ₹10 crore.
