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'Barbaric assault': Rahul Gandhi writes to Amit Shah, seeks accountability for July 20 crackdown on students
The Congress leader also stated the use of pellet guns was “most shocking.”
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday, wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah demanding accountability for what he called the "barbaric assault" on students protesting peacefully in Delhi on July 20. He alleged security forces used "indiscriminate force, including lethal weapons and tear gas," leaving hundreds injured.
Gandhi's letter comes day after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from the Cabinet amid weeks of nationwide protests over alleged examination irregularities.
"We hold Amit Shah directly responsible for the violence that has taken place against our students. He authorised the shooting of our students. He authorised the use of lethal weapons, including pellet guns, against our students. For us, this is a fundamental issue," Gandhi said.
The protests, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and backed by activist Sonam Wangchuk, who undertook a 26-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, culminated in a "Sansad Chalo" march towards Parliament on July 20.
The demonstrators demanded a fair and accountable education system amid allegations of paper leaks. Police used lathi charges and tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Pradhan's resignation, submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, came with the him saying that he wanted to ensure the protests were not "exploited by anti-national forces."
In his letter, Gandhi said women students "have been assaulted by policemen, including by deliberately targeting their private parts," and cited the case of 19-year-old student Sahil Lochab, whom he met.
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Gandhi said Lochab is in severe pain and is likely to lose an eye after being hit by pellet guns. The Union government, as of the time of Gandhi's press conference, had not issued a detailed response to the allegations.
Gandhi posed two direct questions to Shah in the letter. "As Home Minister, did you approve the use of lethal force including pellet guns against students? If not, who did?" he asked. He also sought clarity on the identity of men in civil clothes seen beating students with lathis, asking whether they were police personnel or volunteers, and who authorised their deployment.
"Peaceful protest is crucial to any democracy. It is the government's responsibility to protect protestors and resolve their grievances through dialogue," Gandhi wrote, adding that the violence "destroys every norm" and has “outraged the country.”
Gandhi also linked the unrest to what he described as the collapse of India's "education system, media system, and job creation system."
The Congress leader said the matter will be raised as a major issue in the upcoming session of Parliament. He also demanded that Prime Minister Modi apologise to the protesting students for the government's handling of their concerns.
Political observers say the controversy could trigger heated exchanges in both Houses when Parliament reconvenes, with opposition parties expected to press for a discussion on crowd-control measures used against the protesters and demand an independent review of the events of July 20.
The issue is likely to dominate the political discourse in the coming days as both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) gear up for the parliamentary session.
