Rahul Gandhi attacks PM Modi amid abusive video row: 'Students deserve an apology, not forgiveness'

“He has not met a single grieving parent. He has not sat with a single student whose future was stolen by a leaked paper,” Rahul said.

Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video in which he said he had "forgiven" the student protesters who had abused him.

Responding to the video, Rahul said the students "do not need forgiveness" but are "owed his apology." Sharing photographs of his meetings with students and their families, Rahul said, "Nothing is more painful than seeing a parent grieve their child," adding that students were being told to "work honestly in a system that is not honest with them."

“Behind every young life lost is a family carrying pain that will never leave them - and serious questions about a broken education system. Leaked papers. Cancelled exams. Years of preparation destroyed overnight,” the Congress leader said. He further slammed the Prime Minister, saying he had not met “a single grieving parent.”

“And the Prime Minister has the audacity to speak of “forgiving” students. He has not met a single grieving parent. He has not sat with a single student whose future was stolen by a leaked paper,” Rahul said.

In a video posted to his official Instagram account, PM Modi said he was forgiving students who hurled abuses at him and his late mother, terming them as “misguided.” The Prime Minister said the language used by some protesters "would not suit any civilised society", but appealed to people to help reform the students.

“These are misguided children, and showing them the way is our duty; we will not be able to change circumstances by punishing them, making them run around the courts, or harassing them in society,” PM Modi said.

‘You cannot threaten Gen Z into silence’: Rahul

Rahul had, on Friday, sharpened his attack on PM Modi and union home minister Amit Shah, accusing the government of trying to "silence" India's Gen Z by filing FIRs against student protesters and taking down their social media accounts.

"PM Modi and Amit Shah, you cannot threaten Gen Z into silence," Gandhi wrote. "First you broke their bones. Now you are filing FIRs and taking down their accounts. You are India's past. Be careful about how you treat India's future."

This came even as 15-year-old was booked for allegedly using abusive and objectionable language against PM Modi during the protest at Jantar Mantar. The girl issued an apology on Saturday. “I came under the influence of some people at the protest and said a lot of bad things against the Prime Minister,” several media outlets cited her as saying. While the girl was identified as a 25-year-old in the FIR filed against her, in the video she said she was 15.

She reportedly called the incident her “first and last mistake”, and apologised to the entire country, saying she was “ashamed.” HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

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