New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the public has no interest in Union Home Minister Amit Shah delivering a broad-brush address in Parliament on “general topics” and instead demanded a clear explanation on who authorised the use of pellet guns against protesting students.
The Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition said that for more than two weeks Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have not shown the courage to appear in the House, adding that neither of them has had the “guts to own up to what they have done.”
“It is for students to see and understand that neither the home minister nor the prime minister think that what was done to you in Delhi is worth commenting on,” Gandhi said at a joint media briefing with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, held at the party’s Indira Bhawan headquarters in New Delhi.
He said that the question was never about whether Shah can give a speech in Parliament on general issues, as reported by The New Indian Express.
“Question was that home minister Shah has to make it clear who authorised the shooting of our children in Delhi. He is the home minister; pellet guns were fired,” Gandhi said, adding he must come clean whether he gave the firing orders or not.
If Shah ordered it, he is culpable, and if he did not know, he is incompetent, Gandhi said, adding that either way Shah “should go”.
The remarks by Gandhi came after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, on Monday, said the government was willing to hold a “full and detailed discussion” on the student protests, adding that Amit Shah would reply to the entire debate.
This besides, Gandhi said the prime minister should apologise for the police action on students during the Jantar Mantar protest.
The third issue is the donation “theft” at Ram temple, he said.
‘No Courage To Face The House’
The Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition said that for more than 15 days neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister has shown the courage to attend the House.
Kharge, on his part, said the opposition wanted a discussion on that and the paper leak issue.
But the government did not say anything for 14–15 days, which shows that they did not want a discussion, Kharge added.
Three Non-Negotiable Demands
“We kept forcing them, but he (Shah) did not come. The other demand was that PM Modi should make a statement on the theft of Ram temple donations.
“Prime Minister announced the trust and constituted it. Under Modi ji’s trusted trustees, theft of donations took place. We wanted the guilty punished and the PM to make statement, but the government did not pay heed to it,” he said.
PM Modi should apologise because lakhs of people have faith in the Ram temple and such a big incident happened, but he kept silent, Kharge said.
“These three issues are non-negotiable. We are fighting on all three issues. We stand firm on these three issues; the government must reply on this,” he maintained.