Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have not attended the current session of the parliament so far, nor have they issued any statement about the police atrocities committed against protesting students on July 20 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. Despite repeated demands for accountability made by the opposition, both have conveniently chosen to evade responsibility and have remained tight-lipped.Last week, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, in his speech in the Lok Sabha, held the Shah directly accountable for the police brutality. “The use of force can only be authorised either by the home minister or the prime minister,” he said. Later, in a press conference, he demanded that Shah must take responsibility and resign.A ministry meant to protectUnder the constitution, the Ministry of Home Affairs is sworn to protect the lives, liberties and democratic rights of its citizens. Yet, under the six-year tenure of Amit Shah, this vital institution has been converted into an engine of state-sponsored coercion.From the brutal blockade and suppression of the farmers around Delhi, the shameless crushing of decorated women wrestlers and the blood-soaked valleys of Manipur to the bruised streets of Delhi during the recent youth movement, internal security policy of India has devolved into a semi-war against its own people.Farmers’ protestThe blueprint for this era of state-enforced brutal oppression was on full display during the historic 2020-2021 farmers’ protests around Delhi, when tens of thousands of farmers marched towards the capital to protest against the three farm laws foisted upon them. They were met not with statesmanship, but with structural blockade, apathy, defamation and violence. Under the direct command of the home ministry, national highways leading into the capital were transformed into fortress grids.Farmers stage a protest demanding a legal guarantee for the procurement of crops at MSP, at Singhu border in New Delhi, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. Photo: PTI/Atul Yadav.Massive concrete blocks were erected across public roads. Multi-layered rows of barbed wire were stretched out and iron spikes were drilled deep into the tarmac to puncture the tires of tractors. For over a year, citizens seeking to petition their government were blockaded and prevented from entering the capital, left to perish in the freezing cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer.The state intermittently unleashed water cannons in sub-zero temperatures, fired tear gas indiscriminately and ordered brutal baton charges whenever protesters dared to cross the barricades. By the time Modi government was forced into a humiliating retreat and repealed the ill-fated farm laws, more than 700 farmers had died. They died of exposure, of medical neglect, and under the heavy boots of state forces. The blood of those farmers stains the ledger of the Ministry of Home Affairs.Delhi riotsShah also failed to act promptly and decisively during February 2020 Delhi riots, when more than 50 people died, caused a major unrest in the national capital, during the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests. It was a colossal administrative and intelligence failure of the home ministry. The riots caused an international embarrassment for India as US President Donald Trump was also in Delhi on an official visit at that time.Shah faced intense scrutiny for the initial inaction and failure to deploy adequate personnel during the critical first 72 hours of escalating communal tension. His ministry failed to anticipate the violence despite highly provocative public speeches by ruling-party leaders. Furthermore, civil society reports highlighted delayed paramilitary deployment and alleged police complicity, prompting widespread political demands for Shah’s resignation over the failure to protect lives and property.Lakhimpur KheriIf the blockade demonstrated institutional cruelty, the horrors of Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021 exposed an absolute collapse of political morality. In broad daylight, a convoy of luxury vehicles – including an SUV owned by the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni – ploughed through a crowd of peaceful, retreating farmers who had dared to protest against him.In the incident captured on camera, five persons, including four farmers and a local journalist, were crushed to death under the wheels of political arrogance. The prime accused was the junior minister’s son, Ashish Mishra.Scenes at the site of the incident in Tikonia, Lakhimpur Kheri on October 4, 2021 a day after the farmers were mowed down. File Photo.In any civilised society operating under the rule of law, a home minister would have immediately dismissed his subordinates to ensure an untainted, independent investigation. Instead, Shah’s ministry provided months of political cover, resisting public outrage and parliamentary demands for accountability.By maintaining this patronage, the ministry sent an unambiguous, chilling message to the nation: those aligned with the ruling apparatus can run over citizens with absolute impunity.The wrestlers’ protestIn 2023, the world watched in horror as India’s elite women athletes – Olympians, world champions and Commonwealth medalists – were forced to sleep on the pavement, protesting at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. They were demanding a simple, lawful response: the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the then-chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, a powerful BJP MP, over systemic sexual harassment of many women wrestlers.Police stop protesting wrestlers from marching to new parliament building on May 28. Photo: Twitter/@SakshiMalik.Because the Delhi Police come under Shah’s mandate, the law was deliberately stalled. It took the intervention of the Supreme Court to force the police to register a basic criminal complaint. The turning point of this national shame came on May 28, 2023. As a new parliament building was being inaugurated amid grand speeches about democracy, mere hundreds of metres away, state forces were unleashed upon India’s sporting icons.The images of the female Olympians being violently manhandled by security forces – crushing them with boots, dragging them across the asphalt and throwing them into police vans – shocked the global conscience. The message was unmistakable: the home ministry would rather deploy its forces to shield an alleged sexual predator than protect the dignity of the nation’s daughters.Manipur’s ethnic crisis and security lapsesThe most damning indictment of Shah’s tenure is the complete and catastrophic social disintegration of Manipur. Since May 2023, this strategic border state has been engulfed in an ethnic civil war that has torn apart the social fabric of the region. Three years later, the state remains fractured into hostile ethnic enclaves separated by lines of blood. Hundreds of citizens have been slaughtered.Over 60,000 men, women and children have been displaced from their homes and forced to live in squalid relief camps within their own country. Thousands of military-grade weapons have been looted from state armouries, completely weaponising civil society in Manipur.A charred vehicle seen at the site amid violence, at Litan Sareikhong village, in Ukhrul district of Manipur, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. Photo: PTI.Despite the deployment of tens of thousands of central paramilitary troops, the home ministry has failed to secure the territory, disarm radical factions or restore the basic sovereignty of the state. To allow a state to burn for over three years is a historic failure of internal security by the home minister that has no parallel in the modern era.The systemic collapse of the nation’s security apparatus has also penetrated high-security zones and vital tourist corridors. Last year the devastating terrorist attack on innocent tourists in Pahalgam, in which 26 innocent people were slaughtered, shattered the manufactured illusion of total normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and eventually led to a minor war with Pakistan in May 2025.Last November, another shocking security failure allowed a low-intensity bomb blast to occur, killing at least eight people, right in front of the historic Red Fort in Delhi – a venue that should be among the most secure locations in the country. Nobody was held accountable for it.Student protests at Jantar MantarRecently, thousands of young students, spurred and organised by the derogatory and irresponsible remarks made against them by the Chief Justice of India, agitated peacefully at Jantar Mantar, but were ignored by the government for more than a month. Frustrated by the government’s apathy, they marched through the streets of New Delhi on July 20 demanding structural educational reforms and absolute accountability for the continuous, systemic paper leaks that have ruined the futures of millions of students.A Delhi Police personnel throws a tear gas shell to disperse protesters during a march towards Parliament demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination in New Delhi, Monday, July 20, 2026. Photo: PTI.The response of the home ministry’s police force was instantaneous and brutal. Instead of establishing a dialogue, the state launched a vicious baton charge. The lathis were laced with nails. The policemen, many in plain clothes and masks, removed their name plates and covered their faces with helmets to prevent recognition and to evade responsibility for all sorts of brutal atrocities on unarmed peaceful protestors.The exit gates of the surrounding metro stations were closed to prevent more protestors from joining in. Even pellet gun shots were fired, leading to at least one agitator losing an eye. Young students, women and educational activists were beaten down and dragged through the streets. Women protestors were even molested by police personnel, who struck and poked their private parts with lathis. When a government responds to a generation crying out for fair exams with police batons, it has entirely lost the moral right to govern.A question of accountabilityShah’s record as home minister is a coherent and deliberate strategy of using state violence to silence the citizens of India. In a constitutional democracy, the principle of ministerial responsibility is paramount. If the law applies equally to all, then a minister who uses the law as a weapon must face accountability. Shah is not above the law and his continued occupation of the office of home minister is an affront to Indian democracy and to the 140 crore people of this country.His acts of omission and commission are too glaring to ignore anymore. Shah has failed his constitutional oath, failed the citizens of India and failed the basic tenets of humanity. For the sake of the Indian democracy, he should be held accountable and his resignation must not only be demanded, but also enforced. The education minister has resigned. The home minister must step down now.The writer is a farmers’ leader and was actively involved in the farmers’ agitation and wrestlers’ agitation. He is an alumnus of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and frequently writes columns in all the major national newspapers like The Indian Express, Dainik Jagran, Navbharat Times and Amar Ujala.This article is updated with a section on Delhi riots and republished at 3.35 pm on the same day.