Uproar over Rahul Gandhi's remarks in Lok Sabha; Rijiju says LoP using 'unparliamentary' words

New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday recounted his chats with students participating in the Jantar Mantar protests and said that one of them presented a "very interesting perspective" before him. 

"I asked the girl, 'You told me that you were a student. What does it mean? Do you study in college, or school, or does it mean you read books?' She gave the most beautiful answer; she said, 'a student is someone who has an open mind and open heart, someone who right from the beginning accepts that they don't know anything, student knows that whatever he knows would be superceeded later by new knowledge, student understands that the universe is constantly changing... and so student understands that knowledge is constantly changing," Gandhi said, speaking during the discussion on The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha.

"She told me that there is another category of people; they are not students...They are absolutely convinced that they know everything, they believe that the universe is static and they believe that the knowledge emerges from inside them, they believe that they are God, that everything that is to be known is known to them, they are arrogant, they don't listen, they don't respect other people's truth. I said, what do you call these people? She said, 'I call them idiots'," he added.

His "idiot" remarks drew protests from the treasury benches. "I did not say anything about you (the government)," Gandhi remarked.

"The idiot is trying to pretend that he is God," the Congress MP added, amid the uproar from the ruling party MPs.

"There are three categories -- students, idiot and the 'Andhabhakt' who follows the idiot," he said.

Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju objected to the remarks and said that the LoP used "unparliamentary language".

"Rahul Gandhi is trying to quote a student and saying those unparliamentary words. He is not even naming the students; it's him who is saying those words. The words that he has used are unparliamentary...I am not saying this; it's the rule book that is saying this," Rijiju said.

--IANS

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