Hours after Dharmendra Pradhan, schooling minister within the Narendra Modi authorities, stepped down on July 25 underneath stress from large Gen Z protests in New Delhi and different Indian cities, Rahul Gandhi, Congress Occasion chief and chief of the opposition within the decrease home of parliament, despatched a letter to Dwelling Minister Amit Shah, in search of accountability for the “barbaric assault on college students who had been peacefully protesting in Delhi on July 20, 2026.“
Gandhi was referring to the Narendra Modi authorities’s use of brutal drive in opposition to unarmed college students marching towards the parliament constructing in New Delhi on July 20.
The leak of query papers for medical entrance exams held nationwide on Could 3 triggered a tidal wave of anger and anguish amongst college students throughout India. Gandhi and the Congress social gathering started holding rallies in varied cities and cities demanding accountability from the Modi authorities.
Then got here the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Occasion (CJP) from June 6 at Jantar Mantar calling for Pradhan’s resignation. A number of went on starvation strikes. The CJP referred to as for a march to parliament on July 20.
As hundreds started to march peacefully that day, the Modi authorities revealed its iron fist within the coronary heart of New Delhi, the Indian capital.
A number of video clips reveal that Delhi Police and the Speedy Motion Pressure (RAF), a specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Pressure, rained batons and fired pellet weapons and tear gasoline on pupil protesters. In a single video, a senior identifiable police officer might be seen slapping a lady pupil standing close by. One other video exhibits a lady being surprised by a shock baton. Protesters have additionally alleged they had been crushed with batons fitted with nails.
A minimum of 4 folks, together with a journalist who was protecting the protests, have been recognized thus far with extreme pellet accidents. Journalist Vijaita Singh, who accessed the overall diary entry by the RAF at 1.24 a.m. on July 20, reported in The Hindu that the RAF’s Deputy Commandant “on the orders of the DCP [Deputy Commissioner of Police]” “fired 55 rounds of non- electrical shell, 15 rounds {of electrical} shell, 5 tear smoke granite, two rounds utilizing ballistic cartridges with plastic pellets from an anti-riot gun.”
By the way, Delhi Police had denied the usage of pellet weapons in opposition to the scholars, dismissing experiences as “fully false and deceptive.”
Importantly, a few of those that had wielded batons so freely on protesting college students weren’t in uniform and wore no seen identification. Who had been they? RAF personnel who may unleash violence unafraid of being recognized? Or supporters of the federal government?
“As Dwelling Minister, did you approve the usage of deadly drive, together with pellet weapons, in opposition to college students? If not, who did?” Gandhi requested in his letter. “Are the folks in plain garments seen beating college students with lathis [batons] police personnel or volunteers? Who approved their deployment?”
Delhi Police and the RAF fall underneath the direct jurisdiction of the Union Dwelling Ministry, which Shah heads.
Gandhi’s open letter to the house minister has upped the ante. Whereas the CJP demanded the removing of the schooling minister, Gandhi and the Congress social gathering are aiming greater — on the residence minister himself. They’re in search of accountability for the function India’s strongest minister after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, performed within the July 20 violence.
Up to now, Shah has remained silent on the allegations of the extreme use of drive. It is a tacit endorsement of the brutality that was unleashed on college students on July 20.
As Rishav Sharma, advocate within the Delhi Excessive Courtroom, identified, “Accountability doesn’t finish with the constable on the entrance line; it travels backside up by way of the chain of command to those that form the circumstances underneath which illegal drive turns into doable.“
The buck stops with Shah.
