Either Amit Shah ordered firing or was in dark: Rahul Gandhi repeats protest claims

Rahul Gandhi's comments repeated allegations that he had made earlier in the day during a Parliament debate. His remarks had triggered protests from the government and demands that he prove what he was alleging.

In Short

• Gandhi refuses to apologise for accusing Amit Shah of allowing police brutality
• Gandhi claims police used pellet guns, shock batons on students
• Government denies Gandhi's claims, calling them factually incorrect

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday refused to apologise for his remarks in the Lok Sabha accusing Union Home Minister Amit Shah of authorising the use of force against student protesters, hours after the allegations triggered a political storm in Parliament during the debate on the anti-paper leak Bill.

The remarks had prompted NDA MPs to demand an apology from the Leader of the Opposition and ask him to substantiate his claims. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also intervened, reminding Gandhi that allegations cannot be made in the House without supporting evidence.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters after the House was adjourned, the Leader of the Opposition claimed he had been assured he would be allowed to continue his speech if he apologised, but said he would "never ever apologise" to the BJP or the RSS.

"I was not allowed to speak. Multiple times Rajnath Singh and Kiren Rijiju were allowed to speak. I was given an assurance that if I apologised, I would be allowed to continue. I will never ever apologise to the BJP or the RSS," Gandhi said.

He asserted that it was his right as Leader of the Opposition to raise issues of national importance and said the police action against students protesting the alleged NEET paper leak was the most pressing issue before the country.

"To me, the most important issue today by far is that our students, people who are open-minded and ask questions, were brutalised," he said.

Reiterating his allegations, Gandhi claimed students were fired upon with pellet guns and alleged that one student was likely to lose vision in an eye.

"One boy who was shot with a pellet gun is most likely to lose his eye. I have seen the AIIMS medical certificate which shows that he was shot with pellet guns," he claimed.

The Congress leader also alleged that police used "shock batons" and "lathis with nails" during the crackdown on protesters, including against women and minors.

"Where did the police get this idea from? Lathis with nails beating women and minors," he said, adding that he had seen a police officer slap a protester.

Gandhi further alleged that he had personally seen Amit Shah directing police officers during the protest.

"When we were at Parliament House, I saw with my own eyes Amit Shah calling the police officers. I saw Jitendra Singh getting call after call from Amit Shah. So it was pretty clear he was aware of what was going on," Gandhi claimed.

His remarks came hours after a stormy exchange in the Lok Sabha during which he accused Shah of ordering the use of force against students protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

The allegations triggered protests from the Treasury benches, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju demanding that Gandhi substantiate his claims.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh rejected the allegations as "factually incorrect", asserting that no bullets were fired and no order to open fire had been issued during the protest.

- Ends