"Are They Terrorists?" Priyanka Gandhi Slams Use Of Pellet Guns On Protesters

Who will answer, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi asked in Parliament on the use of pellet guns against student protesters in Delhi.

"What was the need to fire tear gas at those students, to rain lathi blows upon them, or to use water cannons against them? What was the need to humiliate those young women, tear their clothes, and have them brutally beaten? What was the necessity of using pellet guns and AK-47s against the country's youth? Were they terrorists?" Priyanka Gandhi said in Hindi during a discussion on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026.

"Will the Home Minister answer? Who gave the order to fire pellet guns? I want to ask through you, Speaker sir, who gave the order? Did the PM gave the order or the Home Minister? Will they answer? The whole country is asking, not just the Congress party," she said.

Riot police, Rapid Action Force (RAF), baton-charged, teargassed student protesters in New Delhi on July 20 as they tried to march to Parliament, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations.

Protesters, demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister, ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site, videos from the protest site showed. The movement spread beyond the capital, with large protests held in several other cities.

The protests were called off over the weekend as Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Education Minister. 

"The parents of this country are asking, the students are asking, the teachers are asking, the entire country is asking this today, and it is your responsibility to answer this question. Why are you afraid of the youth of this country. Why are you afraid of the powerful voice of this country, and who gave you the right to suppress that voice? Priyanka Gandhi said.

"In recent days, thousands of children took to the streets. They expressed their pain by keeping non-violence and truth in their hearts, following the path shown by Gandhiji, singing and smiling while protesting peacefully. Under the most sacred principle of democracy, they upheld their right to raise their voice," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi also questioned the conduct of the ruling MPs who cheered Dharmendra Pradhan as he entered Parliement on Monday, just two days after he resigned as Minister. 

"The day before yesterday, the Education Minister resigned under shameful circumstances, and yesterday, right here at the Makar Dwar, MPs of the ruling party were shouting slogans of "Zindabad". They were shouting victory slogans. He was welcomed in Parliament as if some superstar had arrived. Look at the irony. When the former Education Minister was being crowned and welcomed, at that very moment," Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday presented before the media a student protester who was allegedly shot with a pellet gun by security personnel during the July 20 march.

"You are saying that protesters have been hit by pellet guns. I want to explain when pellet guns were fired. My brother was struck by a pellet gun when he was peacefully protesting with a tricolour in hand," Gandhi said in his address to the media, with Sahil Lochab, who suffered pellet gun injuries, by his side.

Gandhi also lifted the young man's T-shirt to show his injuries to the media.