5 min readUpdated: Jul 28, 2026 06:05 PM IST
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra spewed fire in Parliament two days after the CJP-led protest forced Dharmendra Pradhan to resign from his Union Education Minister post. Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah whether students are terrorists, Gandhi criticised them over the usage of teargas, lathi-charge, pellet guns, AK-47 by security forces to dispel protesters.
Modi believed he could overcome crisis through PR
In vieled remarks over Modi’s recent Instagram reels addressing the protesters, Gandhi claimed “Prime Minister and his friends” believed they could overcome the crisis through public relations, narrative-building and what she described as “pliant” media.
In fierce remarks against the Centre, Gandhi said, “What was the need to use tear gas on those students, to lathicharge them, and to use water cannons against them? What was the need to humiliate those young women, tear their clothes, and treat them in such a brutal and inhuman manner? What was the need to use pellet guns and AK-47s against the youth of this country? Were they terrorists?…Yes, the Congress is asking this… Answer us… The Congress is asking; we want answers. Who will answer? Will the Home Minister answer? Who gave the order? Who gave the order to use pellet guns? Through you, Honourable Speaker, I ask: who gave that order? Did the Prime Minister give it? Did the Home Minister give it? Will they answer?…”
Pradhan welcomed as a superstar
Gandhi said it was “shameful” that BJP MPs welcomed Dharmendra Pradhan at the Parliament premises “as if he were a superstar”. Pradhan was welcomed at the Parliament by BJP MPs with a traditional cap and stole, and shouting “Pradhan Zindabad” while Opposition MPs raised slogans such as “Chor, chor, paper chor”.
Gandhi said, “Don’t you think it is shameful? Everyone saw the circumstances under which Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, but yesterday in the Parliament premises, he was welcomed as if he were a superstar!” Pradhan resigned on July 25 as CJP outfit and student protesters continued their agitation relentlessly for over a month and remained firm on their demands.
“No one can trust the Modi government, because even today, students are being harassed. I saw some Instagram handles with photographs of women alleging that they did such and such thing…Do you want to engage in talks to resolve this matter or you are still after the students, wanting to suppress them? This is wrong,” the Congress general secretary said.
‘Why inflict such oppression on an innocent girl’
Echoing her sentiments on the plight of a protester, who was battling for her life in the ICU in a Delhi hospital after being injured in a police lathicharge, Gandhi asked Modi and Shah: what was the need to inflict such oppression on an innocent girl.
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Elaborating about her visit to the hospital and how the injured protester’s mother was impacted by the frequent visits by politicians, Gandhi said, “… A few days ago, we went to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to enquire about the condition of the Delhi student who was battling for her life in the ICU after being injured in a police lathicharge. A short while before we reached there, Union Health Minister JP Nadda had visited her, and shortly before him, another leader had also visited. By the time we arrived, the girl’s mother was upset with the repeated visits by politicians…When we reached there, the girl’s mother, standing outside the ICU door, asked us, ‘Why have you come?’ With folded hands and trembling hands, she said, ‘Thank you for coming, but I do not want to meet anyone. I do not want to speak to anyone.’…The pain of that mother was such that her entire body was trembling. But with a voice full of anguish, she said, ‘Since morning, many big leaders have been coming here one after another, making videos. Even those who are responsible for my daughter’s condition came here. Why?’
Further she said. “Perhaps I should not be saying this while standing here in front of everyone, but the plea of that mother left me ashamed. The sound of her broken heart, which echoed through the walls of the hospital, still resonates in my mind. Therefore, with the permission of that mother, I want to ask the Honourable Prime Minister and the Honourable Home Minister through you: what was the need to inflict such oppression on an innocent girl?”