NEW DELHI: High drama unfolded in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju engaged in a heated exchange during a debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026.
The confrontation broke out after the Congress leader recounted a conversation with a young student while sharing her perspective on what it truly means to be a student.
“She gave me the most beautiful answer,” Gandhi said, detailing his interaction. “She said, ‘A student is someone who has an open mind and an open heart. A student is someone who, right from the beginning, accepts that they do not know everything. A student accepts that whatever they know will be superseded later by new knowledge.'”
He added that the student emphasized humility and respect for diverse perspectives, linking her thoughts to Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
However, a specific expression used by the Leader of Opposition during his address drew sharp protests from the Treasury benches, disrupting the proceedings.
Intervening in the debate, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju raised strong objections to the phrasing. “Had Rahul Gandhi not used an unparliamentary word, nobody would have objected. I believe that he is using a word in the name of a student, but it is he who is using it… He cannot use an unparliamentary word. It should be expunged,” Rijiju asserted.
Joining the intervention, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh requested the Chair to maintain order while removing the remarks from the official record. “I humbly request that the unparliamentary word used by the LoP be expunged and I urge everyone on my side to maintain silence and listen to him,” Singh said.
Following the objections, Speaker Om Birla ordered the specific expression to be expunged from the parliamentary proceedings.
Earlier in his speech, Gandhi touched upon the recent student protests over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak issue. Framing the demonstrations as a genuine reflection of youth aspirations, he stated that the protests were “not anger, not violence, not hatred,” but “a deep expression” of India’s youth, urging all political parties to respect their concerns.
