New Delhi: The government’s efforts for a debate on the students’ agitation in the Lok Sabha on the penultimate day of the Monsoon session came to nought with the opposition rejecting Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposal for a two-day discussion on the NEET paper leaks and other issues followed by a reply from him.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju suggested that the Monsoon Session could be extended if the opposition agrees to a discussion on Thursday.
“Extension of the session is a very small matter. We are saying that even if Congress says at 11 am tomorrow that it is ready for discussion, we will extend the time,” he said while responding to a query during a media interaction.
Sources said the options of extending the session or a special sitting or special session are open but everything depends on the opposition’s cooperation.
The fast-paced developments — which finally ended with the House being adjourned for the day — kicked off with Shah first daring the opposition to submit a formal letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for a debate.
He said he would attend the entire proceedings to address all questions if the discussion begins Wednesday.
It was now up to the opposition to decide whether they want to take part in the debate or create turmoil in Parliament, the home minister told reporters in the Parliament House complex minutes after the proceedings of the House began.
“Even today, I say that they should submit a letter to the Speaker by 2 pm. We are ready for all kinds of discussions from 3 pm today until 3 pm tomorrow,” Shah said, asserting that the government has nothing to hide.
Soon after, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi turned down the proposal and asserted that the youth want to know who ordered that “protesting students be shot” at with pellet guns.
He said the opposition was not interested in listening to Shah’s “imagination and lecture” in Parliament. If Shah ordered that students be shot at, he is culpable, and if he did not, he is incompetent, Gandhi said.
“In both cases he should resign,” the Congress leader said.
Subsequently, the home minister wrote to the Speaker on the matter.
“I want to request you to kindly consult the opposition. With everyone’s consent, allocate as much time as needed for the debate. I will sit through the entire discussion and respond to all questions from the opposition during the debate,” Shah said.
He also said dialogue and discussions are the only ways to find solutions in a democracy and he has full faith in democracy and democratic institutions. He said the debate should facilitate the views of the opposition and treasury benches on the important issue of students’ protests.
But the chaos continued.
When the Lok Sabha reassembled at 3 pm after two adjournments, the noisy opposition protests took off from where they had been stopped.
Amid the turmoil, Rijiju announced in the House that the government was ready to start a debate immediately on the student protests, and Shah had already written to the Speaker.
He said the opposition should not run away from the debate when the home minister was ready to answer all their questions.
But the minister’s appeal failed to cut ice.
Amid the slogan-shouting and protests, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the chair, repeatedly urged the opposition to accept the government offer for the debate. His appeal was ignored and the House was adjourned for the day.
Rijiju addressed a hurriedly convened press conference after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day and said it is “unthinkable and incomprehensible” that the opposition is avoiding a discussion when the government is ready to respond.
“I am totally frustrated; I am seeing for the first time where the government is ready for discussion, the opposition is running away,” Rijiju said.
Earlier, in the morning, when the Lower House assembled at 11 am, the opposition immediately came to the Well and staged protests. The proceedings then continued for just around three minutes before the House was adjourned till 2 pm. There were similar scenes when the House met again at 2 pm.
At that time, the government proposed to move the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, to a joint parliamentary panel. The motion was passed by the House amid the din.
The opposition demanded the withdrawal of the bill, alleging that it was targeted against minorities. However, Rijiju dared the opposition to show a single clause in the bill that was against the minorities.
Congress MP KC Venugopal said the opposition had only just received information about sending the bill to a joint committee and alleged that the legislation was aimed against minorities and NGOs.
“This is clearly for targeting minorities and NGOs. We demand that the bill be withdrawn,” Venugopal alleged.
Rijiju rejected the charge, saying the Congress and other Opposition parties had themselves been demanding that the bill be sent to a House committee.
“If they have any reservations about the bill, they can speak in the JPC. This is not targeted at any minority community,” Rijiju said.
The government had offered a debate on Monday but it was rejected by the Congress.
The renewed attempt at ending the logjam came just a day before the end of the Monsoon session, which has seen prolonged disruptions in both Houses. The opposition protests initially started over the NEET paper leak and alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
It later pressed for a discussion on the police action against students protesting over the NEET paper leak and also demanded the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister, and their statements.
