Highlights of special media bite on August 10, 2026, by Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi at AICC Headquarters, Indira Bhawan, New Delhi

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Hello everyone. We've called this press conference for one purpose: to address the demands that the opposition parties have consistently and forcefully put forward since the first day of the Parliament session on July 20th. Our first demand is this: the union Home minister has addressed the Delhi Police... the atrocities they committed against the youth, using pellet guns, gas, water, and hitting them with electric batons. They did so many things, so brutally." They showed their intentions towards the children by saying that they would do Daurjanyam or... We wanted a limited discussion about it, that they should come and discuss the paper leaks and how they happened. But they didn't say anything about it for 14-15 days. This means they didn't want to, and we kept pushing for a speedy resolution of this matter, with all Party members, but they didn't come.

Our second demand was this—and we made these three demands together, not separately. The second demand was that the Prime Minister had a significant contribution in establishing the trust for our Ram Temple. That is, he selected the members of the trust and also discussed how the trust should function. He chose the members he included, and those members were known to him and were his own people. But even after that trust existed, I would say that when the entire public was demanding donations for the theft, the people who were Modi's trusted trustees ... how did the theft happen? Where did the bricks go? Where did the silver go? Where did the money go? Where did the Ramcharitmanas go? All of them made revelations about this and said that those who committed the theft should be punished with the strictest punishment, and the Prime Minister himself should disclose it. But they did not pay any attention to that either.

We also wanted that on one hand he lathi-charged the students, and on the other hand there was also the matter of theft of donations. Therefore, our third demand was that he himself apologize to the country and the public, because thousands, lakhs, crores of people have faith in the Ram Temple, they have faith in Ayodhya. So, if such a big incident happens at such a place of faith, then the Prime Minister never opened his mouth in the last 15 days, did not prepare to say anything. I believe this is the first such incident about which both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have maintained silence.

So, that's why we're fighting on these three issues... these three are non-negotiable for us. We're fighting on all three issues, not just one issue. And especially on these issues, Rahul Gandhi has been raising these issues everywhere, making statements or saying something to students. We still stand by this issue. He should respond to these three issues: first, how he brutally attacked the students; second, the massive theft in Ayodhya and where the Ram Temple Trust's donations went; and third, he should apologize for these reasons. These are our three issues, and we're fighting for them.

Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Namaskar! Thank you for coming. Question was never that Mr. Amit Shah is going to come and give a speech on some general topics in the Parliament. The question was always that Mr. Amit Shah has to make it clear, who authorized the shooting of our youngsters in Delhi. He is Home Minister, pellet guns were fired, students were beaten with lathis with nails on them. The question was…Mr. Amit Shah should come clean, did he order it, or did he not order it? If he ordered it, he is guilty of getting our children shot, and if he didn't know about it happening, he is incompetent. Either way, he should go. This was the discussion.

Second, there were two other conditions. First condition, I explain to you that we want to understand clearly, who is responsible, who is culpable. The Prime Minister apologizes for what has happened.

And third was the issue of the Ram temple theft, which Kharge Ji has elaborated upon. People very close to the Prime Minister, have stolen from the Ram Mandir. These are three issues. So, now, Mr. Amit Shah suddenly saying that he is ready to speak. We are not interested in his fantasy conversations. We are interested in, whether he authorized or didn't authorize the shooting of our children.

First, he should make that abundantly clear, after that the question of any discussion arises, that is the situation. And that is what the opposition is demanding, that is what we have been demanding for the last 15 days, and that is what we are continuing to demand. The thing, I would like to point out is the character of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. For 15 days, neither of them has had the courage, and I am saying courage, and stressing courage, neither of them has had the courage to come to the House. Neither of them has had the guts to own up to what they have done.

So, that is for our students to see and understand that neither the Home Minister of this country, nor the Prime Minister of this country think that what was done to you in Delhi, the brutality that was carried out in Delhi is worth commenting on. This is what the real issue is.

Opposition not interested in Shah’s lecture

Amit Shah’s silence on police brutality against students is his confession: Leader of Opposition

NEW DELHI: Talking to media outside the Parliament on August 12, 2026, Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi said, "We are interested in one simple thing. When I say ‘we’, I mean the younger generation of this country - who shot those students, who gave the order to shoot those students, who blinded one of the students, who shot one of the students in the ear, who gave the order to beat the students with lathis and nails, who gave that order? That order was implemented by the Home Ministry."

Stepping up his attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah for avoiding Parliament all these days during the Monsoon Session, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi said that his (Shah’s) silence is his confession.

Noting that Shah remained absent from the Parliament for around 20 days, he said, “The most important thing to understand is that he has disappeared for 20 days. He was sitting in his chamber in Parliament House, cars used to come and go… 30 cars around Amit Shah.”

"Did Amit Shah give the order to shoot our children or did he not? If he did, he should resign because he is culpable; and if he did not, he should resign because he is incompetent," Shri Rahul Gandhi said, adding that in both the cases, he needs to resign.

Reiterating that Shah’s balloon had burst, he said, his (Shah’s) call for having a discussion on students’ protests was a last-minute effort to refill the gas in his already deflated balloon. "The balloon has deflated and at the last-minute, he is trying to fill the gas again but the balloon has burst. Amit Shah has no courage; the Home Minister of India has no courage. He cannot come to the House," he asserted.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said that the Opposition has made it clear that we are not interested in listening to Mr. Amit Shah's imagination. We are not interested in him giving us a lecture, or a discussion." Responding to a question on the students’ protests in Jharkhand, he said, "I have said clearly in my press conferences that we do not appreciate any violence against our students. I am not silent, I am saying it openly."