Debate on Public Examinations Amendment Bill 2026
Lok Sabha: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi on July 29, 2026, hit at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), saying, “the RSS is the real enemy”. He said that Shah was afraid of coming to Parliament. Shri Rahul Gandhi also said that he saw profound hope and fearlessness in the future of the country, that is the ‘Soul of India’, despite our education system being brutal and terrible.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the Public Examinations Amendment Bill 2026 in the Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that he was pleased to know that the students had overcome their fear.
Recalling a conversation with an 18-year-old student during the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme, Shri Rahul Gandhi asked the girl, “Does it mean that you study in a college? Does it mean that you study in a school? Does it mean you read books? What does it mean? She gave me the most beautiful answer. She said, “A student is someone, who has an open mind, and open heart. Student is someone, who right from the beginning accepts that they do not know everything. Student accepts that whatever he knows will be superseded later by new knowledge. Student understands that the universe is constantly changing, dynamic, in movement and so, student understand that knowledge is also constantly changing.”
Then I asked her the next question, I said, “You have defined a category very well. This category of students, who else is there?” She says, “There is another group of people, they are not students.” “Who are they” she says, “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 believe that they are God. That everything that is to be known, is known to them. They are arrogant, they don’t listen, they don’t respect other people’s truth.” So, I said, “What do you call these people?” She said, “I call them idiots.”
He said that the students made it categorically clear to the powers that they were not going to be their blind followers. “Under no circumstances are we going to become your ‘andhbhakts’, in no case are you going to define our future and under no circumstances are we going to accept it”, he said quoting conversations with the young students, adding, “the soul of India is saying this.”
Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said that the parents of these children did not have the courage to face the BJP or the RSS. “And yet these children, brave, imaginative and powerful, stood there and faced everything that was thrown at them”, he said, adding, “There is nothing in the BJP or the RSS. The real challenge is facing your own fear. And that is exactly what the students did. They overcame their fear.”
Pointing towards the Treasury benches, Shri Rahul Gandhi told them, “They challenged the idea that you, the BJP and the RSS, could destroy them and their careers. They asked why people of different religions are being targeted. They asked these questions publicly, and you could do nothing about it.”
Referring to the threat posed by the RSS to the education system, he said, “The soul of the system has been captured by the RSS. Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation was only superficial. He never ran the Education Ministry. The RSS runs it.”
“What are students really angry about?” he asked, adding, “They are not allowed to be students. They are not allowed to follow their passion, speak freely, or ask the questions they want. Instead, they are expected to accept the RSS’ version of history.”
Shri Rahul Gandhi noted that today, every university has an RSS-backed Vice-Chancellor. “Dharmendra Pradhan is only a symbol. Remember, the real enemy is the RSS. They are the ones stopping students from being students and want them to be the andhbhakts”, he said.
Targeting the Home Minister and holding him directly responsible for the action against students, Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said that he did not have the courage to attend Parliament.
“The Home Minister of this country, Amit Shah, doesn’t have the courage to come and sit here”, he said amidst thumping of desks from the Opposition benches.
“The Home Minister authorised the shooting of our students. He put pellets into the blood of our students. He ordered the students of India to be shot”, he said.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “There can only be two possibilities: that the firing was either ordered by the Home Minister or he was unaware of it. In either case, he is either guilty or incompetent,” he added. He asked why the Home Minister is not attending Parliament if he has not done anything wrong.
Expressing great hope and optimism about the future generation, he said, “I would like to say that I was very excited and reassured by what the future of this country did on our streets. This was not anger, violence or hatred, but a deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country and I feel all political parties must respect that, including my friends in the BJP. Every Indian should be proud of what the youth of this country did.”
