‘Home minister put pellets into blood of our students’: Top quotes from Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Parliament | India News

NEW DELHI: After nearly a week of logjam, Parliament witnessed a stormy session on Wednesday as leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi praised the recent NEET-UG 2026 paper leak protests, saying, “Every Indian should be proud of what our youth did.”Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Rahul said the nationwide protests reflected the concerns and aspirations of students about their future.

Top quotes from Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Parliament

‘Every Indian should be proud of what our youth did’Calling the recent nationwide student protests a powerful expression of the aspirations of India’s youth, Rahul said every political party should respect their voice.“I was very excited and reassured by what the future of this country did on our streets. This was not anger, this is not violence, this was not hatred. This was a deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel all political parties must respect this expression, including my friends in the BJP,” Rahul Gandhi said.“In fact, I am pretty certain, and I have seen examples of it, if my friends in the BJP were to go and ask their own children about what they felt about what their brothers and sisters were doing, they would find agreement among their own children. There is nothing wrong in what happened and every Indian should be proud,” he said.Who is a ‘student’?Recalling his interaction with students protesting at Jantar Mantar, Rahul Gandhi narrated a conversation with a young woman about what it means to be a student.“You said to me that you are a student. What does it mean? She gave me the most beautiful answer. She said, ‘A student is someone who has an open mind and an open heart. A student is someone who, right from the beginning, accepts that they do not know everything. A student accepts that whatever they know will be superseded later by new knowledge. A student understands that the universe is constantly changing, dynamic, in movement, and so knowledge is also constantly changing. The most important value of a student is humility,'” Rahul said.He then quoted the student’s description of another kind of people and said, “She told me that there is another category of people; they are not students… They are absolutely convinced that they know everything.”“They are absolutely convinced that they know everything. They believe that the universe is static and they believe that knowledge emerges from inside them. They are arrogant. They don’t listen, they don’t respect other people’s truth,” the Congress leader added.‘Education system is very expensive’Rahul went on to criticise the education system, alleging that it had become expensive and increasingly commercialised. “Education system is very expensive; more money is spent on one exam than is spent by govt on entire education budget,” the LoP said.He further claimed that students were frustrated because they were unable to pursue their interests. “Students really irritated about not being allowed to follow their passion, to ask questions they want to.”RSS runs education ministryLaunching another attack, Rahul said, “our education system is cruel, there is rampant privatisation. Soul of system captured by RSS.” “Dharmendra Pradhan is a symbol, your real enemy is the RSS… keep it mind. They are the people who are not letting you be students. They are the people who want you to be andh-bhakts. This is a reaction from soul of India that is saying that under no circumstances are we going to become your andh-bhakts,” the Congress leader said.‘Shah put pellets into blood of our students’Targeting Union home minister Amit Shah over the alleged police action during student protests, Rahul Gandhi said, “Home minister scared.”Rahul said, “I am very happy today to see that he so called home minister of this country does not have the courage to come and sit here… why is the home minister not here today? The home minister is not here today because he is scared.”“The home minister authorised the shooting on our students. He put pellets into the blood of our students. He ordered the students of India to be shot,” he added.‘To keep House in order is your responsibility’After proceedings resumed, Rahul complained about repeated interruptions from the treasury benches. “To keep House in order is your responsibility; the moment I open my mouth, treasury benches shout,” he told Speaker Om Birla.“Mr. President, if you want only BJP to speak in the country, then I will sit quietly. Whenever I speak… someone from the BJP starts speaking. Even when I do not yield in the House, the ruling party is still given a chance to speak,” he added.Remarks trigger fresh uproar; word expungedRahul’s remark led to noisy scenes in the Lok Sabha, with BJP members objecting strongly. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju urged Speaker Om Birla to remove the word from the official record, calling it an “unparliamentary” expression.“Had Rahul Gandhi not used an unparliamentary word, nobody would have objected. I believe that he is using a word in the name of a student, but it is he who is using it… He cannot use an unparliamentary word. It should be expunged,” Rijiju said.Defence minister Rajnath Singh also appealed to the Chair to strike the remark from the proceedings. “I humbly request that the unparliamentary word used by the LoP be expunged and I urge everyone on my side to maintain silence and listen to him,” Singh said.Following the objections from the treasury benches, the Speaker ordered the word to be expunged from the Lok Sabha proceedings. The BJP MPs also demanded apology and proof from Rahul Gandhi over his allegations against home minister Amit Shah.The discussion resumed at noon after the House was adjourned earlier in the day amid opposition protests demanding the presence of Amit Shah. The government introduced the amendment Bill earlier this week following nationwide protests over the NEET-UG paper leak that culminated in the resignation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.The proposed legislation seeks to strengthen the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act by providing for punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh for those involved in paper leaks.Earlier, Rijiju criticised the opposition for allegedly politicising the debate saying. “Congress leaders did not speak on the Bill at all. They were only doing politics. We hope Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders will speak on the Bill today.”“Such an important Bill is being discussed, but they are trying to divert attention by talking about unrelated issues and politicising it. This is a very good Bill brought in response to the demands of students. The prime minister has taken a major decision and it has instilled new confidence among the students. If the Congress has any suggestions on the examination system, it is free to share them,” he added.The debate took place amid continued disruptions in Parliament over the NEET-UG paper leak, police action against student protesters and the government’s proposed changes to the anti-paper leak law.