Rahul’s ‘advice’ to PM Modi, and 3 guarantees to students over police action on protesters

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Centre of denying him an opportunity to speak in the Lok Sabha because he held Union home minister Amit Shah responsible for the alleged police brutality during the July 20 CJP march.Addressing a press conference after the proceedings, Rahul claimed he was assured he would be allowed to resume his speech if he apologised, but said he refused, declaring that he would “never ever apologise to the BJP, RSS, or any other person associated with them.”“As you saw today, the leader of the opposition was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha. Multiple times, I asked the Speaker to bring order to the House so that I could speak. Multiple times, Rajnath Singh ji and others were allowed to speak, but I was not allowed to speak. The excuse was that I said something about Mr. Amit Shah. I said that Mr. Amit Shah was responsible for the brutality that was carried out,” Rahul said.“I was also given an assurance that if I apologise, I will be allowed to continue speaking. The first thing is, I will never ever apologise to the BJP, RSS, or any other person associated with them. The second thing is, it is my right as the Leader of the Opposition to raise issues that are important for this country. To me, the most important issue today is that our students, people who are open-minded and ask questions, were brutalised on the streets of Delhi,” he added.‘Sack Shah, order probe’During the conference, Rahul called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Amit Shah over the alleged crackdown on student protesters and demanded an independent probe into the incident, which is being monitored by the Supreme Court.He also claimed the Congress had gathered evidence showing that police used electric batons, pellet guns and lathis fitted with nails to disperse students.“They were shot with pellet guns. One boy who was shot with a pellet gun is most likely to lose his eye and may not be able to see. I have seen the AIIMS medical certificate, which shows that he was shot with pellet guns. Shock batons were used, not just normal lathis, lathis with nails. Where did the police get this idea from?” Rahul said.“Now there are two possibilities. Either Amit Shah gave the order to shoot people with pellet guns, beat people with lathis with nails, and use electric batons, or he did not know it was happening. If he did not know, he is incompetent. If he ordered it, he is culpable. In either case, he has to go. And every single child who has been beaten must know this,” he added.“We are not asking for anything that is out of the ordinary. At least have the decency to take responsibility for what you have done,” he further said.3 promises to studentsDuring the press conference, Rahul Gandhi also made three promises to students affected by the alleged police action. He said the he would ensure justice for the injured students, punish those responsible for the alleged use of pellet guns, and hold those involved accountable.

“We will ensure that the students who were beaten, maybe not today, maybe sometime from now, but we will ensure that every single one of those students who was beaten gets justice,” he said.“We will ensure that the people who shot our students with pellet guns will be punished. It’s very simple for us to do. We have the photographs. We’ve collected all the videos and all the photographs. We know the police officers who have done it,” Rahul said.“So, you might think you’re very smart, but accountability is going to come. This is our guarantee. This is our guarantee to the students,” he said.