# BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of misleading students over protest claims 2026-08-05T23:15:59+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk The BJP accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of spreading a false narrative and using young people to advance his political agenda, after Gandhi met students who had taken part in last month's Sansad Chalo march and blamed Home Minister Amit Shah for violence against the protesters. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said no shots were fired during the July 20 march, restating an earlier claim, and said Gandhi was "trying to play politics by firing from the shoulders of the youngsters." He said young people were not at fault and urged them to stay involved in protests without fear. During Gandhi's press conference, a woman alleged police had struck her in a private area while protesting peacefully, and said she was not Muslim after online users had assumed otherwise. Patra called the agenda Gandhi was pushing "extremely wrong" and asked why Gandhi had not visited similar protests in Jharkhand over alleged irregularities in the state's PSC and SSC examinations, saying Gandhi was avoiding it because it was his own government there. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Patra's rebuttal directly answers Gandhi's charge that Shah avoids Parliament, quoting his own line that the home minister "reaches Parliament before we reach" and "leaves after we leave," without addressing why the students were protesting in the first place. The report sets Patra's repeated claim that no bullets were fired against the woman's allegation that police struck her during the march, and against the original grievance over alleged paper leaks and police excesses, without adjudicating between them. Patra's own comparison, asking why Gandhi appeared with these students but not Jharkhand's protesting job aspirants, is itself untested since the report records no reply from Gandhi on the point. The Ranchi protest Patra points to, running since July 25 over the Jharkhand PSC and SSC examinations, is the specific case against which his charge of selectiveness can be measured. ## Coverage - www.siasat.com Tags: Bharatiya Janata Party, Rahul Gandhi Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/rahul-gandhi-playing-politics-using-youth-false-narratives-bjp/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/rahul-gandhi-playing-politics-using-youth-false-narratives-bjp/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.