Monsoon session disruptions continue as Opposition presses for home minister’s response on student protest crackdown allegations
Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan on Thursday made an unusual intervention, asking Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju to relay the Opposition’s sentiments to Union home minister Amit Shah, as disruptions over a student protest crackdown continued to stall the monsoon session.
For two weeks, proceedings have been repeatedly halted as the Opposition demanded Shah address allegations of police excesses, including the use of pellet guns, during a July 20 protest that called for then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
When the House reconvened Thursday, Congress chief and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge renewed the demand, urging both the home minister and prime minister to appear and respond. He invoked former finance minister Arun Jaitley’s view that disruption is itself part of parliamentary democracy, arguing the government was avoiding legitimate questions.
Radhakrishnan then turned to Rijiju, asking him, in his capacity as parliamentary affairs minister, to convey the Opposition’s sentiments to Shah though he clarified the final decision rested with the home minister. In parliamentary convention, such a direction from the chair signals institutional weight without being binding.
The exchange followed a heated back-and-forth between Rijiju and Kharge during Zero Hour, with Rijiju citing procedural rules to push back against the disruptions.
Shah is separately expected to address the House around August 12 during debate on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026.
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