Launching a volley against the Centre after Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said no students suffered serious injuries during the Cockroach Janta Party-led student protests in July, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said he had met several injured protesters himself. He also reminded the government that attempts to “lie” won’t work because the students have “eyes and memories too”.
Taking to X on Tuesday, Gandhi posted a video of Rijiju’s comments and alleged that lathis studded with nails were used against the protesters, who were demanding then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation .
Half a kilometre from Parliament, pellet guns were fired at peaceful students, lathis studded with nails were used, one child’s eye was lost, one girl’s ear was severed. “Ministers of the Modi government are saying that ‘the Delhi Police should be praised’. “The fundamental mantra of this government is untruth and violence. First, beat the children with lathis, then claim that nothing happened at all… They have eyes and memories too. “In this case, one ought to praise the Delhi Police and the administration. In handling such a massive protest, leave aside a death, they didn’t even let serious injuries occur. Yet people keep talking about bullets being fired…
Because not a single lathi was used during the protest, the Delhi administration deserves praise. Should we praise this brutality?” the Congress MP asked, referring to the police action on the day the students marched to Parliament on July 20.
Gandhi said thousands of videos of the action have been seen by people across the country and he had met the injured students himself. The truth is that the biggest danger to this country comes from these empty-headed people (‘ Dimaag se khaali log ‘), who neither see their own mistakes, nor admit them even when they do,” he alleged, adding, “Don’t lie to the children of this country. The Minister said “thousands of people” were killed during such protests when the Congress was in power, and that the Delhi Police was deserving of praise. They (the students) were stopped only when they forcefully marched towards Parliament,” he said.
