‘Don’t stand in the way of protesting students, they are India’s voice’: Rahul Gandhi to PM Modi and Amit Shah
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah not to obstruct student demonstrations, calling the protesters “the voice of Hindustan.” He made the remarks after meeting student activists, including members of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), who were injured during recent protests in the capital.
Background: Protests over electoral roll revisions
The students had been demonstrating against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Several protesters were detained by Delhi Police during the agitation, and some were reportedly injured in the ensuing action.
The interaction with Mr. Gandhi took place at 10, Janpath, the residence of Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Speaking to the students gathered there, Mr. Gandhi positioned their campaign as a non-sectarian, democratic exercise and appealed to the government to heed their concerns rather than attempt to silence them.
Inside the meeting: ‘One voice, the voice of Hindustan’
Mr. Gandhi asked students to introduce themselves and recount their experiences after being picked up by the police from protest sites. He then asked them to form a human chain, symbolically underscoring unity beyond identity lines.
“Amit Shah ji, look at this properly. Here there is no Hindu, no Muslim, no caste, no gender. There is one voice, one protest — it is the voice of Hindustan,” he said. “And you are standing in front of this voice and the Prime Minister ji is standing in front of this voice. I give you a suggestion — do not stand in front of this voice. No one can stand in front of this voice.”
Allegations of ‘inhuman’ treatment in custody
Several students described what they said was inhuman treatment while in police custody, alleging they were beaten, abused and struck in their private parts. The accounts came amid wider criticism from opposition parties over the handling of recent demonstrations in the city.
Mr. Gandhi lauded the students as the party’s “shers” and “shernis” (lions and lionesses) and pledged that the Congress would stand by them. He asserted that those responsible for any police excesses would be held to account, explicitly naming a chain of responsibility “from the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah to the police constables involved.”
Call to preserve evidence and defend protest rights
Advising the students on next steps, Mr. Gandhi urged them to safeguard video and photographic evidence documenting their treatment during detention. He reiterated that peaceful protest is a constitutional right and should not be curtailed.
“Peaceful protest is your right. We will not allow anyone to snatch it away,” he said in a post on X, adding that a day would come when “those seeking to silence democracy would face the law.”
Party optics and visibility concerns
The interaction also touched on an internal concern within the Congress that, while Mr. Gandhi has spotlighted individual student protesters such as Neha Bora, many NSUI and Youth Congress activists have not received comparable visibility. By meeting a broader cross-section of injured and detained protesters, party leaders sought to address those perceptions and reinforce support for the wider student movement.
Significance and next steps
Mr. Gandhi’s remarks place student activism at the centre of a wider political debate over electoral transparency and civil liberties. By framing the protests as a united, pan-Indian voice and directly appealing to the Prime Minister and Home Minister, he sharpened the opposition’s stance on both the conduct of the electoral roll revision and the policing of dissent.
As of Wednesday evening, there was no immediate word from the authorities on the specific allegations of custodial abuse raised by the students at the meeting. Mr. Gandhi’s call to preserve evidence and his assurance of accountability suggest that the opposition will continue to push for a formal reckoning over both the alleged irregularities in the electoral roll process and the treatment of demonstrators.
