NEW DELHI: After nearly a week of logjam, Parliament witnessed a stormy session on Wednesday as leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi praised the recent NEET-UG 2026 paper leak protests, saying, “Every Indian should be proud of what our youth did.”Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Rahul said the nationwide protests reflected the concerns and aspirations of students about their future.Top quotes from Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Parliament
- Calling the recent nationwide student protests a powerful expression of the aspirations of India’s youth, Rahul said every political party should respect their voice.
- “I was very excited and reassured by what the future of this country did on our streets. This was not anger, this is not violence, this was not hatred. This was a deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel all political parties must respect this expression, including my friends in the BJP,” Rahul Gandhi said.
- “In fact, I am pretty certain, and I have seen examples of it, if my friends in the BJP were to go and ask their own children about what they felt about what their brothers and sisters were doing, they would find agreement among their own children. There is nothing wrong in what happened and every Indian should be proud,” he said.
- Recalling his interaction with students protesting at Jantar Mantar, Rahul Gandhi narrated a conversation with a young woman about what it means to be a student.
- “I asked the girl, ‘You told me that you were a student. What does it mean? Do you study in college, or school, or does it mean you read books?’ She gave the most beautiful answer; she said, ‘A student is someone who has an open mind and open heart, someone who right from the beginning accepts that they don’t know anything, student knows that whatever he knows would be superseded later by new knowledge, student understands that the universe is constantly changing… and so student understands that knowledge is constantly changing’,” Rahul said.
- He then quoted the student’s description of another kind of people and said, “She told me that there is another category of people; they are not students… They are absolutely convinced that they know everything.”
- “They believe that the universe is static, and they believe that the knowledge emerges from inside them; they believe that they are God, that everything that is to be known is known to them; they are arrogant, they don’t listen, they don’t respect other people’s truth. I said, what do you call these people? She said, ‘I call them idiots,'” the Congress leader said.
- Rahul also said, “Andhbhakt is a person who considers other person is God.”
- The remark triggered protests from the treasury benches, with parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju urging Speaker Om Birla to expunge what he termed an “unparliamentary” expression.
- Rahul Gandhi alleged that India’s education system has become unaffordable and heavily commercialised. “Education system is very expensive; more money is spent on one exam than is spent by govt on entire education budget.”
- He further claimed that students were frustrated because they were unable to pursue their interests. “Students really irritated about not being allowed to follow their passion, to ask questions they want to.”
- Launching a another attack, Rahul said, “Our education system is cruel, there is rampant privatisation. Soul of system captured by RSS.”
- He also alleged that the RSS exercises control over the education ministry and called it the “real enemy” of students.
- Targeting Union home minister Amit Shah over the alleged police action during student protests, Rahul Gandhi said, “Home minister scared. The home minister authorised the shooting on our students. He put pellets into the blood of our students. He ordered the students of India to be shot.”
Fresh uproar in the House
The remarks came amid continuing political confrontation over the handling of protests following the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy.Rahul’s “idiots” remark led to noisy scenes in the Lok Sabha, with BJP members objecting strongly. Rijiju accused the Congress leader of using students as a pretext to make an “unparliamentary” remark and urged the Speaker to remove it from the record.After proceedings resumed, Rahul complained about repeated interruptions from the treasury benches. “To keep House in order is your responsibility; the moment I open my mouth, treasury benches shout,” he told Speaker Om Birla.The discussion resumed at noon after the House was adjourned earlier in the day amid Opposition protests demanding the presence of Amit Shah.The government introduced the amendment Bill earlier this week following nationwide protests over the NEET-UG paper leak that culminated in the resignation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.The proposed legislation seeks to strengthen the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act by providing for punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh for those involved in paper leaks.Earlier, Rijiju criticised the opposition for allegedly politicising the debate saying. “Congress leaders did not speak on the Bill at all. They were only doing politics. We hope Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders will speak on the Bill today.”“Such an important Bill is being discussed, but they are trying to divert attention by talking about unrelated issues and politicising it. This is a very good Bill brought in response to the demands of students. The prime minister has taken a major decision and it has instilled new confidence among the students. If the Congress has any suggestions on the examination system, it is free to share them,” he added.The debate took place amid continued disruptions in Parliament over the NEET-UG paper leak, police action against student protesters and the government’s proposed changes to the anti-paper leak law.
