Rahul Gandhi asks PM Modi to sack Home Minister Amit Shah, rejects BJP demand for apology

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the latter was responsible for the police action against the agitating students. After the ruling side protested and disrupted his speech in the Lok Sabha when he alleged that Shah had ordered the police action, Gandhi held a press conference at the Congress headquarters to reiterate his charge and escalate his attack on Shah. He rejected BJP's demand for his apology for his comments against Shah.

Pointing out that Delhi Police and other forces involved in dealing with student protestors were reporting to the home minister, Gandhi said at the presser, "There are only two possibilities: Home Minister gave the order to use pellet guns, beat people with lathis, and use electric batons. Or, he did not know what was happening. If that is the case, it is incompetence. In either case, he needs to go. Our advice to the prime minister is, sack Amit Shah. Order a Supreme Court-monitored high-powered committee to probe into the incidents. At least have the decency to take responsibility".

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"To me, the most important issue today is that our students were brutalised on the streets of Delhi. They were shot with pellet guns. There were also shock batons, not just ordinary lathis, but lathis with nails. Facial recognition is being used against them. Bajrang Dal is being mobilised to intimidate them so that they do not raise their voices again," Gandhi added. He claimed that many students who joined the protests were being targeted even now.

Maintaining that the field "is open" to the Opposition, he said, "We will ensure that the students who were beaten get justice."