New Delhi: The Lok Sabha saw heated exchanges on Wednesday (July 29) after leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi accused Union home minister Amit Shah of authorising police action on protesters. He said Shah had “ordered students to be shot”, referring to the brute force unleashed on protesters in the national capital last week.Gandhi in his statement on the discussion on the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, said that Shah was not present in the House because he was scared, and that he had “put pellets into the blood of our students”.“I am very happy today to see that the so-called home minister of this country does not have the courage to come and sit here. I saw the home minister’s carcade, thirty cars with the home minister sitting inside, looking, shaking. Why is the home minister not here today? He is not here today because he is scared. The home minister authorised the shooting of our students. He put pellets into the blood of our students, he ordered the students of India to be shot,” said Gandhi.Gandhi’s speech was repeatedly disrupted as the Treasury benches erupted in protest.Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju demanded to know on what “basis he had made such a remark against the Home Minister” and demanded his apology.“We cannot take this lightly. Tomorrow anyone can get up and say anything. This is not right. How do you know, and on what basis, you should clarify and apologise,” said Rijiju.Also read: Does the MHA Think Pellet Guns and Shock Batons Adhere to the Very UN Basic Principles It Advertises?Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that Shah was not present as the discussion was not on his ministry and said that Gandhi should speak only on facts.“Until you have proof of what you are saying, they should not be recorded in the proceedings of the House,” said Birla.“The use of force can only be authorised by the home minister or the prime minister,” said Gandhi.Both the Opposition and Treasury benches erupted in protest. While the Opposition benches were heard saying that the government was running away from the truth, the Treasury benches demanded an apology.Opposition members could then be heard chanting slogans: “Goli kisney chalayi? Jawab do, jawab do.” (Who authorised the firing, give answers.)Rijiju then demanded that Gandhi furnish a copy of the order that he is referring to.“You cannot say anything and leave just to grab headlines. If you don’t want to speak, don’t speak, but we cannot give permission for saying the wrong things,” said Rijiju.Amid the uproar in the House, Birla adjourned the proceedings.Outside the House, Gandhi said that there could be only two options – either the home minister authorised the firing or he didn’t know who had issued the orders.“There can only be two options. One that the home minister ordered the students to be killed or that he was unaware that firing would occur on the students. In the first case, he is culpable and in the second case he is incompetent,” said Gandhi.Also read: ‘Refuse to Lift Your Lathis’: 1800 Citizens Write Open Letter to Security Forces At Jantar Mantar“He did not come to the House. Why is he not coming? [The] supposedly brave home minister of India – why is he not in the House if he has not done anything? He can come and clarify that he didn’t do anything.”Earlier during Gandhi’s speech, there was also an uproar when he used the word “idiot” in reference to a conversation he had with an 18-year-old student, who had spoken about three categories of people while defining who is a student.“She said the student wears the truth on his or her chest proudly. I said, what about the other type? She said the other type requires an image. It requires an image and as that image is not true because the idiot is trying to pretend that he is god, he has to create this massive image. I asked her a question: where does the third category go? I asked [about] the category of andhbhakt (blind supporter). She said andhbhakt is a person who is absolutely convinced that another idiot is god,” said Gandhi.The treasury benches rose in protest and took objection to the word “idiot” while Gandhi said that he was not referring to anyone specifically. Birla then said that the word would be removed from the record of proceedings.During the discussion, Gandhi also hit out at the RSS, the BJP’s ideological parent body, and said that the education system has been captured by it.“The soul of the system has been captured by the RSS. Dharmendra Pradhan (former education minister) never ran the education ministry. The man and organisation that run the ministry are called the RSS,” he said.“They (students) have to buy this nonsensical history that RSS fantasises about. Pradhan is the symbol. Your real enemy is the RSS. They are the people who want you to be an andhbhakt,” he said.