Union home minister Amit Shah challenges Opposition to debate student protests

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday offered to sit through a two-day debate on the students' protests over the NEET paper leak, saying he was ready to answer every question from the Opposition. However, the proposal was rejected, deepening the stalemate in the Lok Sabha on the penultimate day of the monsoon session.

In a dramatic bid to break the impasse, Shah challenged the Opposition to submit a formal request to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for a discussion, asserting that the government had "nothing to hide".

"Submit a letter to the Speaker by 2 pm. We are ready for all kinds of discussions from 3 pm today till 3 pm tomorrow," Shah told reporters in Parliament before writing to Birla, urging him to build consensus for a debate.


In his letter, Shah requested the Speaker to consult all parties and allocate as much time as required for the discussion. "I will sit through the entire debate and respond to all questions from the Opposition," he said, adding that dialogue and discussion were the only democratic ways to resolve the issue and that the debate should allow both the treasury and Opposition benches to present their views on the students' protests.

When the Lok Sabha reassembled after repeated adjournments, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju informed the House that the government was ready to begin the debate immediately and that Shah had already conveyed his willingness to answer every question.