Rahul Gandhi Stages Protest Over Alleged Police Use of Pellet Guns

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi held a sit-in protest on Friday outside the Parliament Street police station in Delhi. Gandhi accompanied Sahil Lochab, a student who the Congress party alleges was injured by pellet gun fire during a protest on July 20. Gandhi stated on X that the student's vision in one eye is at risk and that the police had previously refused to register an FIR regarding the incident. A daily diary entry from the police station recorded the use of anti-riot guns and plastic pellets by Rapid Action Force personnel during the July 20 protest, although there has been no official confirmation of pellet gun use against protesters. The Supreme Court has since constituted a five-member high-powered enquiry committee, led by former judge Justice R Subhash Reddy, to examine allegations of police excesses including the use of pellet guns, electric batons, and tear gas. Following the protest, the Delhi Police registered an FIR. The event occurred amid a separate political controversy regarding the Congress party's stance on the national song, Vande Mataram. Center-right framing describes the protest as a calculated distraction to divert public attention from the Vande Mataram row and characterizes the action as the politics of anarchy. Center framing presents the event as part of a broader pattern of government response to dissent and highlights internal Congress concerns that the party is being drawn into a political battlefield defined by nationalism.