Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his challenge to the Opposition to allow a debate in Parliament, accusing him of avoiding the House and refusing
to address questions over the government’s handling of the students’ issue.
Gandhi said the Opposition was not interested in hearing what he described as a “lecture” from Shah and argued that the focus should instead be on accountability for the use of pellet guns.
“We are not interested in listening to his lecture,” Gandhi said.
He then invoked younger generations while questioning who had authorised the use of pellet guns and whether the Home Ministry had implemented the order.
“When I say we, that means younger generations – who gave the order for pellet guns? The order was implemented by the Home Ministry,” he said.
Gandhi further questioned Shah’s responsibility over the issue, saying the Home Minister should resign whether or not he personally issued the order.
“If he gave the order, he should resign, and if he did not, then he should also resign because he is incompetent,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also rejected the suggestion that the immediate issue was whether Shah would appear in Parliament for the debate.
Also Read:‘I Am Ready, Opposition To Decide If It Wants Debate’: Amit Shah’s First Reax Over Parliament Logjam
“The question is not whether Amit Shah comes or not – for the last 20 days he did not come,” Gandhi said. He added: “Home Minister has no courage.”
Amit Shah Challenges Opposition To Debate
Gandhi’s remarks came shortly after Shah accused the Opposition of deliberately preventing Parliament from functioning and challenged it to allow a discussion on the students’ issue.
“Let’s start the debate from 3 pm today. I will sit in the House and will give a detailed reply at 3 pm on Thursday,” Shah said.
The Home Minister maintained that he was prepared to respond to the Opposition’s questions but argued that parliamentary rules did not permit him to simply make a statement on a matter of such importance without a debate.
“There are rules of discussion in Parliament. I can’t just give a statement on such a crucial issue. Let the debate happen, and I will give a detailed response,” Shah said.
Shah also objected to Opposition members using terms such as “bhagoda” against him, while challenging them to begin the discussion and promising to address their questions.
The confrontation came amid a prolonged standoff in Parliament, with the Opposition demanding answers from the government on the issue of police action against students during the CJP demonstrations over NEET paper leak.
