New Delhi:
Rahul Gandhi stopped mid-sentence. Turned around, and held up the hands of a young woman and placed them on the shoulders of the fellow protesters around her. He then nudged others to do the same. Smiling, they all now stood with their hands across each other's shoulders, presenting a united front. Stepping up to the mic, Rahul Gandhi began again.
"Ye Hindustan hai (This is India)," Gandhi underlined, pointing to the protesters who marched in Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral malpractices.
"Amit Shah ji, take a good look at this. There is no Hindu here, no Muslim, no one of any specific caste; there is no woman, no man. There is one voice, one protest. It is the voice of India, and you are standing against this voice - the Prime Minister is standing against this voice. I suggest to you: do not stand against this voice. No one can stand against this voice," Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi, pointing to the protesters, said "this is India"
Pivoting, the congress leader addressed the Delhi police "dil se, pyaar se (with love)".
"I have told all the students to keep a video record and send that evidence to us. When this entire matter concludes, we will utilise all that evidence and ensure that everyone who needs to be punished is punished, from PM Narendra Modi, Gyanesh Kumar, Amit Shah, and even the constable who is raising a hand against our children," he said.
LIVE: Media Bite | 10 Janpath, New Delhi https://t.co/OScZ2qfe1m
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 14, 2026
"Koi darr raha hai? (Is anyone afraid)," Gandhi asked the young protesters.
"Nahi, sir (No, sir)," came the response.
Earlier, during the press conference, Rahul Gandhi introduced a woman protester as "our sherni" and said she had remained fearless despite allegedly being assaulted.
"She was beaten, but she was not afraid. There was no hatred in her heart," he said.
Rahul Gandhi introduced a woman protester as "Sherni"
The woman alleged that she was assaulted by a woman constable while National Students' Union of India (NSUI) activists were being detained during the protest.
Identifying the woman constable as Chanchal Yadav, the protester alleged that she was grabbed by the neck and pushed when the detainees attempted to get off the bus to continue their demonstration.
The protester alleged she was assaulted by a woman police constable. "Yesterday, all NSUI workers were protesting peacefully when we were detained in three buses. In our bus, there were two girls and 20-30 other NSUI colleagues. There was a woman constable in the bus named Chanchal Yadav," she said.
"We tried to stop the bus and sat down beneath it so that our protest could somehow continue. But Chanchal Yadav grabbed me tightly by the neck and pushed me, causing me to fall backwards onto the seat. She then scratched my face with her nails, leaving scratches across my face and near my one ear. When I resisted her, she slapped me so hard and said, 'Here, take another slap across your face,'" she alleged.
A woman protester lifted her upper lip to show the cuts, claimed she had been kicked in her private parts and is now deaf in one year.
A woman protester, a Delhi University student, claims she was slapped so hard that it bruised her lip
Another protester alleged custodial assault. "I joined the protest on the 4th, and on the morning of the 5th, we were detained. Dharmendra and I were pushed into the Parliament Street police station, where 15 to 20 police personnel beat us. One or two of them were also in plain clothes. One of them was named Bahab Singh Tomar. They beat us very badly," he said.
"An officer, Constable Ankit Kasana, kept beating both of us throughout the journey from Parliament Street to the outskirts of Delhi. When Dharmendra said he was feeling like vomiting, the officer told him to open his bag and vomit into it. The police personnel told us, 'Because of you, we are unable to sleep,'" he alleged.
A protester shows off his injuries at Rahul Gandhi's press conference
The press conference comes amid a political row over police action against demonstrators protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and demanding his removal, with opposition parties accusing the authorities of suppressing dissent.
Rami Verma, who runs a satirical social media account "Peeing Janata Party", claimed that he was detained at the insistence of Bajrang Dal and RSS cadres.
"I have a video where they are threatening the peaceful protesters. I was detained at the insistence of Bajrang Dal and RSS cadres. They had sticks and stones in their hands. They complained to the police and thereafter I was brutally detained," Verma claimed.
"They were shoving us into the detention bus while beating us. There were 15 of us (inlcuding women); there wasn't a single female officer, and they snatched away our phones," he said.
At this point, Rahul Gandhi intervened, asking what it was that he was holding in his hand.
"20 July ko bhi ek RAF waale ne danda mara tha mere sir pe (On July 20th, too, an RAF officer hit me on the head with a stick," Ramit said, referencing the alleged Delhi Police violence during the student-led protests that resulted in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
"Toh aapka response kya hai? Dande ka response kaise doge aap? (So, what is your response? How will you respond to the baton?) Gandhi asked him.
"Dande ka response danda hi hai mera, par de thoda pyaar wala danda hai (With a lathi. But mine is a lathi of love)," Verma said.
"Show me how it's done," Gandhi asked him.
Delhi: Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi holds a press conference along with protesters who participated in the demonstration demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. One of the protesters plays a flute during the media interaction. https://t.co/1yhtlRVeDE
— IANS (@ians_india) October 14, 2026
He then took out his flute and started playing 'Vaishnav Jan To', a famous 15th-century Gujarati devotional hymn adopted by Gandhi as a foundational part of his daily prayer meetings at the Sabarmati Ashram.
"Nafrat ka jawab pyaar se hi diya jaayega, basically (Basically, the only way to respond to hatred is with love)," he underscored.