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Informist, Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2026

 

--Police crack down on Cong stir near PM house; detain Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi Police Tuesday forcibly removed Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders, including Indian National Congress member of Parliament Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, from their protest site near the prime minister's residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg here.

 

The opposition parliamentarians led by Rahul Gandhi had marched to Lok Kalyan Marg from Parliament House in the afternoon and staged a sit-in outside the prime minister's house to protest against the brutal police crackdown on agitating students Monday. The police removed the protesting leaders around 1900 IST, around an hour after the dharna started.

 

The protestors raised slogans such as "Tanashahi nahi chalegi (Down with dictatorship)" and "Narendra Modi bahar aayein, himmat hai toh bahar aayein (Narendra Modi, have courage to come out and talk to us)". They demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Modi and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Earlier, minutes into the protest, the police detained several Congress lawmakers and leaders.

 

Rahul Gandhi had urged people to join the dharna outside the prime minister's residence to demand accountability from him. The Opposition has been slamming the government for the police action on students. "An attack on students is an attack on every Indian family," Gandhi wrote on X. "PM Modi believes he can get away without answers, without consequences. He cannot. Not this time."

 

The senior Congress leader and member of Parliament from Rae Bareilly added, "I ask every patriotic Indian who believes our students deserve justice--join us in dharna in front of the Prime Minister's residence. The voice of India's students will not be ignored."

 

Soon after the protest began, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh came to meet Gandhi and urged him to end the protest. Singh, who was accompanied by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, however, failed to persuade the opposition leaders to wind up their demonstration.

 

More than 100 students were reportedly injured in the police action Monday, with one woman requiring ventilator support at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital as she was admitted in a critical condition.

 

Earlier, speaking to reporters, Congress parliamentarian Syed Naseer Hussain said both Gandhi and party President Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had tried to raise the issue of police brutality against the protesting students in Parliament Tuesday but were not allowed to do so by the respective presiding officers. "In fact, no MP was allowed to speak... The prime minister does not even come to Parliament. That is why the Opposition MPs have come to his residence, so that our voices might be heard," Hussain said.

 

Thousands of students had on Monday tried to march peacefully to Parliament House to demand Pradhan's resignation over the leak of the question paper for the pre-medical entrance test. At least 11 aspirants have allegedly died by suicide under stress after the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test was cancelled in May after reports of the paper leak.

 

The police blocked all the approach roads to Parliament House and pushed back the crowds. Around 1600 IST, security forces launched a crackdown and thrashed the protestors with batons, lobbed hundreds of tear gas shells, dismantled all the makeshift tents at the Jantar Mantar protest site, and detained many protestors.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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