New Delhi, Oct 14: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to stand in the way of protesting students, describing them as the voice of the country, as the Congress and BJP traded charges over police action against demonstrators.
Gandhi made the remarks after meeting injured students, including members of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), at 10 Janpath.
The students were injured during recent protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Assuring the students of the Congress’s support, Gandhi said action would be pursued against those responsible for alleged excesses, from the highest levels of government to police personnel.
“PM is standing before this voice. Amit Shah is standing before this voice. I suggest to the PM that he should not stand before this voice. No one can stand before them,” he said.
Some students recounted what they described as “inhuman” treatment by police during detention. Gandhi urged them to preserve video evidence of the alleged incidents and share it with the Congress.
“When this entire episode ends, we will get justice and punish those who have beaten up our students, from top to bottom, from Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Gyanesh Kumar to all the constables who are raising their hands on our children,” he said.
Gandhi also emphasised unity among the protesters, saying they represented people across religious, caste and gender lines.
During the interaction, an injured female student was praised by Gandhi for remaining unafraid despite being beaten. Another student played Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite hymn, Vaishnava Jana To, on a flute, saying hatred would be answered with love.
Earlier, Gandhi had criticised the government after Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were remanded to five days of judicial custody.
He said peacefully waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar was not a crime and called their detention an act of “cowardice”, asserting that the protest site belonged to the people.
The BJP hit back, accusing Gandhi of misleading the country and insisting that the constitutional right to protest did not extend to violating the law.
In a social media post, BJP national media convenor Ashish Usha Agarwal said Jantar Mantar had been de-notified as a designated protest site following due legal process.
He argued that public spaces could not be turned into political battlegrounds and asserted that democracy is governed by the Constitution, not the streets.
Das, Ranka and other CJP members entered Jantar Mantar on Tuesday despite prohibitory orders, unfurled the Tricolour and raised slogans demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged SIR irregularities.
Police said Das and Ranka were remanded for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing at the site, which was de-notified on Sunday.