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New Delhi: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, July 29, claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is either culpable in the police brutality against students during NEET protests or incompetent if he claims to be unaware. He called for Shah’s resignation, saying there is no ambiguity or confusion about the demand.

Gandhi held a press conference on Wednesday at Indira Bhawan, New Delhi, saying he was forced to address the media after being repeatedly stopped from speaking in the Lok Sabha.

“The Leader of Opposition is not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha. Multiple times I asked the Speaker to bring order to the house, and multiple times, Rijiju ji and Rajnath ji were allowed to speak, but I was ot allowed to speak.”

“And the excuse was that I said, ‘Amit Shah was responsible for the brutality that was carried out,'” Gandhi continued.

Will never ever apologise to the BJP, RSS

He claimed to have gotten assurances that if he apologised, he would be given time to speak. “See, the first thing is I will never ever apologise to the BJP, RSS or any other person associated with them; this is something that has to be understood.”

The second thing, Gandhi said, is his right as the LoP to raise issues important to the country. “Students who are open-minded, who asked questions, were brutalised, shot with pellet guns,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leaders said he personally saw medical reports that showed that the students were shot with pellet guns, adding that the police used lathis with nails as well.

Saw Amit Shah calling police officers on July 20, claims Rahul

Opening with clarifying that any action taken by police or associated forces requires Shah’s orders, Rahul Gandhi claimed to have seen the Home Minister making calls to police officers on July 20 during the protests.

“When we were at Parliament House, I saw with my own eyes Amit Shah calling police officers. I saw Jitendra Singh getting call after call from Amit Shah. So he was pretty clear; he was aware of what was going on on the streets,” Gandhi claimed.

The LoP added that in this regard there are only two options: “First possibility that he gave orders to shoot with pellet guns, to beat people with lathis with nails, to use electric batons on people; or he didn’t know it was happening.”

If Shah didn’t know it was happening, he’s incompetent, Gandhi said, adding that if the Home Minister ordered it then he is culpable. There is no third possibility, he asserted.

‘He has to go’

“In either case, he has to go,” Gandhi said.

Demonstrating the chain of command, Gandhi noted that the Delhi Police reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), headed by Amit Shah, making him responsible for their actions. He added that the Rapid Action Force (RAF) reports to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which also falls under the MHA. Pointing out that no other force carried out the beatings or shot students with pellet guns, he emphasised that both report directly to Amit Shah.