A stormy session of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed sharp exchanges after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while speaking on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, recounted an alleged conversation with an 18-year-old student protester and referred to three categories of people – “students, idiots and andhbhakts.” Gandhi was speaking in Lok Sabha as discussions on the bill finally started after several sessions were disrupted by the opposition.
The debate was linked to the ongoing controversy over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and the nationwide student protests that followed, including alleged police action against demonstrators. Gandhi defended the protests, describing them as a “deep expression of the youth of this country” and “the future generation,” insisting they represented neither anger nor violence nor hatred. He said every Indian should feel proud of what the young people had done on the streets and urged all political parties, including those in the BJP, to respect the sentiment. He even suggested that BJP leaders ask their own children what they felt about the protests.
While elaborating on the mindset of the youth, Gandhi quoted an 18-year-old girl he claimed he had met. According to him, she said that there were three categories of people – “students”, “idiots” and “andhbhakts (blind loyalists)”. As per Rahul Gandhi, the student described a “student” as someone with an open mind and an open heart who wears the truth on his or her chest.
“She said a student is someone who has an open mind (and) an open heart. A student is someone who accepts that he does not know everything. Whatever he knows will be superseded by new knowledge. He knows the universe is dynamic. He also understands that knowledge is constantly changing. The most important quality, she said, that a student has is humility,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi further added that the girl said that ‘idiots’ are people who believed they knew everything. He said, “they are absolutely convinced that they know everything. They believe that the universe is static and they believe that knowledge emerges from inside them. They are arrogant. They don’t listen, they don’t respect other people’s truth. She said I call them idiots.”
On the third category, Gandhi said he asked her where the andhbhakt fitted in. Her reply, as quoted by him, was: “Andhbhakt is a person who is absolutely convinced that another idiot is God.” He then summed it up by saying there are three categories – students, idiots, and andhbhakts who follow the idiots.
Rahul Gandhi is calling Indians andhbhakts and idiots from Parliament.
— Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) July 29, 2026
Congress cries so much when someone mistakenly says "Sala" in the House, calling it unparliamentary.
Is this blatant insult of voters not unparliamentary? pic.twitter.com/ov9YwAzCoq
The remarks immediately triggered strong protests from the treasury benches. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju rose to object, arguing that Gandhi could not escape responsibility by attributing the language to a student. “Had Rahul Gandhi not used the 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,” Rijiju said, demanding that the remark be expunged. “Such an important Bill is being discussed, but they are trying to divert attention by talking about unrelated issues and politicising it,” Rijiju added.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also intervened, requesting that the unparliamentary word used by the Leader of the Opposition be expunged and urging members on his side to maintain silence so that Gandhi could be heard.
Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the Lok Sabha referring to "idiots" and "andhbhakts" triggered protests from the Treasury benches during a discussion on students. As the House witnessed an uproar, Speaker Om Birla asked him to stay on the topic. Gandhi later clarified that the remarks… pic.twitter.com/UsCkDzZEh2
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) July 29, 2026
Speaker Om Birla asked Gandhi to stick to the subject under discussion amid the uproar. Later, Gandhi clarified that his remarks were not directed at the government or any member of the House. He requested that the comments be expunged from the parliamentary record. Official updates subsequently confirmed that the word in question had been expunged.
The incident added to the tension already present in the House over the handling of the paper-leak controversy and the student agitation. The government had offered to extend the discussion on the Bill for up to ten hours, but the focus briefly shifted to the language used by the Leader of the Opposition before the House returned to the legislative business.
