Two weeks after the Delhi Police, on July 20, responded with brute force on protesters who had responded to the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP’s) Sansad Chalo march in the national capital, Union home minister Amit Shah has continued to remain absent in parliament. Shah’s absence has come despite opposition parties demanding both inside and outside the house that the home minister make a statement on why the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force – both of which respond to the Union home ministry – used tear gas, batons with nails, pellet guns on protesting youth. While Rahul Gandhi, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack Shah, Modi himself too has been absent since the session started. In the meantime, however, he has made five Instagram reels to woo the youth but has not even made a mention of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan being forced out due to nationwide protests, or the violence meted out to protesters. Meanwhile, the government has continued to push through bills in the House amid opposition protests demanding Shah’s presence in parliament.Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday (August 3) said that the prime minister and the home minister’s absence in the House is an insult to parliament and democracy.“We want the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to come to the House and present their views. What do they want? The Ram Mandir donation theft is a matter of donation-related corruption. What is their stand on it? Students were beaten, pellet guns were used against them, tear gas was fired – everything was done. Why did this happen? Why did this happen? Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister should take responsibility and make their statements. They are not even prepared to come to the House. This is an insult to the House. It is also an insult to the people who elected us to this House. It is an insult to democracy,” he said in a statement outside the House. “Democracy includes a discussion. If you don’t like my argument, then you say that it is not so. But till now they have not even stepped inside parliament. Either they are scared of the House, or they are insulting parliament. When the Prime Minister can make reels on Instagram at midnight, why can’t he say the same thing in the House or call the press to say so? He is saying he forgives the students but he is the one who should apologise for using tear gas and pellet guns.”Kharge’s statement outside parliament came after both the houses saw their proceedings adjourned for the day amid loud protests from the opposition demanding Shah’s statement and a discussion on the Ram Mandir donation embezzlement. In the din, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, was passed within 10 minutes in the Lok Sabha without a debate, and the The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was passed in the Rajya Sabha in less than two hours with little debate.Opposition members stopped from mentioning ShahDuring the debate in the Rajya Sabha, opposition members attempted to raise Shah’s absence, youth concerns over unemployment and issues that had been expressed during the CJP protest that ultimately led to Pradhan’s ouster. However, deputy chairman Harivansh who was presiding over the House stopped any such mention of Shah and said they should confine their speeches to the bill.“It has never happened that the leader of the opposition wants to speak and he has been stopped. It is unfortunate that the people of the country are watching how the leader of opposition is not being allowed to speak. Whenever we discuss any bill it is linked to the youth and students and if they are beaten up..,” said Congress MP Ajay Maken.Maken was stopped repeatedly by Harivansh and said that only comments on the bill will be kept in the records.“You are not interested in discussion, this will not go in the records,” he said.Leader of the House J.P. Nadda then said that Maken had not spoken anything on the bill and what he said was “irrelevant” and should be expunged.CPI(M) MP John Brittas said that Maken was demanding the presence of the home minister but Harivansh moved on to TMC MP Dola Sen.Sen, too, in her speech attempted to raise Shah’s absence and unemployment in her speech.“MSME is the sector where unemployment can be addressed. When the citizens, MPs, MLAs, unemployed youth are not secure, and the home minister does not even want to give an answer,” said Sen amid an uproar in the House.“Bring the home minister to the House, and let him speak,” she said as Harivansh called the next speaker.CPI MP Sandosh Kumar P. in his speech said MSME means “Minister Shah Must Excuse” as Harivansh once again interrupted him.“In the given context MSME is the backbone of the economy, but in this context it means Minister Shah Must Excuse,” he said.Shah absent, bills bulldozed, Modi makes reels but avoids HouseSince July 20, when the Delhi Police unleashed brute force on protesters in Delhi, neither Shah nor Modi have come to the House. While Shah following Pradhan’s exit, wrote a post on X, praising the former education minister, he is yet to speak on how the Delhi Police and RAF used force on protesters. The opposition has raised the use of force on protesters, including AK-47 in Bihar, and demanded to know who has issued these orders. While Modi in his fifth Instagram reel on Saturday (August 1) said that he has forgiven the youth and the female protesters who hurled abuses at him during the protest, he has not mentioned a word on the state action on them. This even as the Supreme Court has said that the state governments can close or withdraw cases against those who participated in the protests against paper leaks if they do not have any criminal cases in the past.The Wire has previously reported that while the minor girl from Noida against whom an FIR has been lodged for using expletives against Modi has said she has been threatened with rape, neither the local nor the Delhi police appear to have initiated a probe against those doxxing and harassing her.Modi’s statement on Saturday notably did not address the fact that female protesters including the Noida girl have been threatened, doxxed and otherwise harassed for ‘abusing’ him or ‘insulting’ the armed forces.With Shah and Modi both remaining absent, the government has continued to pass bills despite the opposition protests in the House. Apart from The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 which was passed in ten minutes in the Lok Sabha and the MSME bill in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, last week the Lok Sabha passed the bill making insult to Vande Mataram a punishable offence within 15 minutes.