Priyanka Gandhi Slams Govt Over Police Force on Student Protesters in Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha debate on exam reform sees sharp clash over police action and paper leaks
New Delhi: "Why was it necessary to fire tear gas shells at students, to rain lathis on them,” Congress Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked on Tuesday, leading the Opposition’s attack on the government over the use of police force on the CJP-led student protesters against the NEET paper leak.
The Congress general secretary said the lathicharge on the students broke the credibility of the government and asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah would have to answer as to who gave the order to attack the children with pellet guns.
Speaking during the Lok Sabha discussion on The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026, Vadra questioned the need to use weapons like pellet guns and AK-47s, apart from tear gas, water cannon, and lathicharge on students who were expressing their dissent and frustration over the oft-leaking examinations.
“What was the need to fire tear gas at those students, to rain lathi blows upon them, or to use water cannons against them? What was the need to humiliate those young women, tear their clothes, and have them brutally beaten,” Vadra asked.
“What was the necessity of using pellet guns and AK-47s against the country's youth? Were they terrorists? Will the home minister answer? Who gave the order to fire pellet guns? Did the PM give the order or the home minister? Will they answer? The whole country is asking, not just the Congress party."
"Why are you scared of the youth of this country and their voices? Who has given you the right to suppress them and stifle their voice?" Vadra said while adding that people of the country are seeking accountability from the government.
The Congress general secretary alleged that while the government used face recognition technology against the protesting students to harass them, it was doing nothing against those criminals involved in question paper leaks. She also targeted the government over the new Bill, saying, "What was the need for it when the CBI’s lawyer did not appear on the first day in the paper leak case being heard by a fast-track court?"
Vadra also questioned the composition of the newly appointed committee set up by the PM to strengthen exam systems and, with sarcasm, suggested that Modi needed to change his advisers. She said the committee has a strange combination of people and described one of its members, IIT Madras director V. Kamakoti, as a "gau mutra" expert. She also made certain remarks against new Union education minister Prahlad Joshi which were later expunged.
“The committee has an ex Intelligence Bureau chief (Tapan Deka), an owner of an IT firm (Nandan Nilekani) and a gau mutra specialist,” said Vadra, adding that instead of stuffing education institutes and committees with RSS cadre, the Prime Minister should engage with educational experts of different ideologies and have pedagogy experts in the committee for reforms.
Targeting the Prime Minister, Vadra said instead of using different camera angles to appease the youth, Modi should change the way he thought about them. “To connect with Gen Z, the Prime Minister needs to change dil ka angle, not the camera angle for making videos,” she said while listing out the reforms needed in the current education system.
Other Opposition leaders Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), Dayanidhi Maran (DMK), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) also took on the government for police brutality and accused it of "lapses in the education system that are forcing students into depression and debt, leading to their suicide".
During the Lok Sabha discussion on the anti-paper leak amendment Bill, the Treasury benches and the Opposition, for a change, were unanimous on the reforms needed in the entire education system and the revamp of not only the NEET but all entrance exams.
Participating in the debate, Gogoi said that the new bill has been brought in only because the government failed to crush the students' movement. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also slammed the police crackdown on students, saying "lathis with spikes and electric batons" were used, adding such "injustice is akin to the Emergency period".
BJP MPs Bansuri Swaraj, Tejaswi Surya and Anurag Thakur accused the Opposition of displaying "selective outrage" over examination paper leaks, saying such incidents also happened during the Congress-led UPA regime and asserted that the Modi government had undertaken structural reforms to strengthen the examination system.
