Parliament Monsoon Session Day 8:

NEET Protest Row, Anti-Paper Leak Bill Passed, Vande Mataram Bill Clears Rajya Sabha

Report By Y-Trendz

Day eight of Parliament's Monsoon Session, held on Wednesday, July 29, was one of the stormiest yet, marked by repeated adjournments in both Houses, a sharp exchange between the Opposition and the

government over alleged police excesses against student protesters, and the passage of two significant bills.

Rajya Sabha: Adjournments Over Police Action

The Upper House had a turbulent morning. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the second time on Wednesday, till 2 p.m., after sustained disruption during Question Hour when opposition members demanded the presence of the Home Minister. The trigger was opposition protest over Delhi Police entering the CPI(M) office, reportedly in connection with the arrest of former JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh.

In the morning session, after papers were laid by ministers including Jayant Chaudhary, Nityanand Rai, Prof S.P. Singh Baghel, B.L. Verma and Savitri Thakur, and a Standing Committee report on coal infrastructure was tabled, CPI(M) MP John Brittas raised the police action issue. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge called the police action "shameful" and pressed for accountability against the officers involved, while Leader of the House J.P. Nadda pushed back, describing the police move as a routine law-and-order matter — a response that only intensified the sloganeering and forced further adjournment.

Lok Sabha: Rahul Gandhi's Fiery Speech

The Lok Sabha saw even sharper theatre. The House was adjourned till noon minutes after reconvening on Wednesday, amid heavy sloganeering from the Opposition benches during Question Hour, even after Speaker Om Birla opened proceedings by acknowledging India's medal winners at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow. The Opposition disruption stemmed from anger over police action against protesters at the July 20 NEET paper-leak demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

When the House resumed, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi took the floor to speak on the government's Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026. He framed the student protests as a sincere, non-violent expression of youth sentiment, recounting a conversation with a protester who described genuine students as open-minded people willing to accept they don't know everything — in contrast to those she called "idiots," who believe they already know it all. Gandhi went further, alleging that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had authorised the use of force against the protesters.

The remark triggered an uproar. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to Gandhi's choice of words and demanded an apology, insisting the debate could not proceed until Gandhi either substantiated the charge or withdrew it. Union Minister Jitendra Singh rejected the allegation outright, telling the House that orders to fire are issued by magistrates, not by the Home Minister, and that no bullets had in fact been fired during the protest march. Singh also accused the Opposition of politicising the NEET issue rather than engaging with the substance of the anti-paper-leak legislation. Gandhi, defending himself amid the din, maintained that the use of force could only be authorised at the level of the Home Minister or the Prime Minister.

Bills Passed

Despite the disruptions, the government notched two legislative wins on the day. The Lok Sabha passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, the anti-paper-leak legislation that had been at the centre of the day's sparring. Separately, the Rajya Sabha passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, by voice vote, which makes insulting the national song "Vande Mataram" a criminal offence.

Protests Outside the House

Beyond the chamber, Samajwadi Party MPs staged a protest outside Parliament, carrying placards and raising slogans against the government over the Ram Mandir donation embezzlement case. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was also seen arriving at Parliament during the day's proceedings, though no official statement on the reason for his visit was released.

The Bigger Picture

Day 8 fits a pattern that has defined much of the session so far: a government intent on pushing through its legislative agenda — taxation, education, examination reform, and now protections for national symbols — against an Opposition using every procedural opening to spotlight allegations of police overreach and corruption. With the session scheduled to run until August 13 and 19 sittings originally planned, the Jantar Mantar protest fallout, the Aishe Ghosh arrest, and the Ram Mandir donation case appear likely to keep resurfacing as flashpoints in the sittings ahead, potentially crowding out debate time for the raft of bills — including the Income-tax Amendment Bill and the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill — still pending before both Houses.

Now let me pull a fitting image for this.These are contextual, institutional images of Parliament rather than photos of named MPs, in keeping with your usual preference. Let me know if you'd rather have imagery centered specifically on the NEET/Jantar Mantar protests or a different visual angle for this piece.