Pellet guns and lathis against students demanding justice for an exam scandal — Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called that 'unforgivable' on Thursday, 30 July 2026, firing a sharp political broadside at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over Delhi Police's handling of NEET paper-leak protests at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

In a lengthy post in Kannada, Siddaramaiah catalogued a series of alleged police excesses visible in videos circulating online — officers tripping students, slapping women and minors, prodding female protesters from behind with lathis, threatening to plant cannabis on students to frame them, deploying men in plainclothes to assault demonstrators, using spiked batons, and smashing vehicle windows themselves. 'We have seen videos of violence against protesting students in multiple ways,' he wrote. 'Attacking those who are the future of the country is unforgivable.'

Why Siddaramaiah's Finger Points Directly at Amit Shah

Delhi Police operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs — not under the Delhi state government — making Amit Shah, as Home Minister, the chain-of-command anchor for any order to deploy force. Siddaramaiah pressed that logic hard: 'Suspicion is growing that Amit Shah himself ordered the pellet-gun attack on students. If he did not, who else would have? And if a Sub-Divisional Magistrate issued the order directly without Shah's knowledge, does that not mean the Home Minister is incompetent?'

The rhetorical trap is deliberate. Either Shah authorised disproportionate force — or he lost control of his own force. Neither answer flatters the minister.

Siddaramaiah Backs Rahul Gandhi's Resignation Demand

Siddaramaiah explicitly endorsed Rahul Gandhi's call for Shah to resign and take moral responsibility for the crackdown. 'I support Rahul Gandhi's demand that Amit Shah accept responsibility for the attack and step down,' he wrote — a rare instance of the Karnataka CM publicly aligning himself with the Congress national leadership's political position in such direct terms.

The post also invoked constitutional principle: peaceful protest and hunger strikes are the right of every citizen, Siddaramaiah argued, and treating students who seek justice 'worse than terrorists is not befitting a democratic government.'

NEET's Long Shadow Over Student Unrest

NEET — the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test — was introduced in 2013 on Supreme Court direction to replace a patchwork of state-level and national medical entrance exams with a single standardised test. Its centralised design was meant to eliminate irregularities; instead, periodic paper-leak allegations have made it a recurring flashpoint. Jantar Mantar, the designated protest ground in central Delhi, has hosted multiple such student demonstrations over the years, and police conduct there has drawn both public criticism and judicial scrutiny before.

Opposition-ruled states have consistently used NEET controversies to press accountability questions at the Centre — and Siddaramaiah's post fits that pattern precisely, escalating from the exam scandal itself to the conduct of the police force that answers to Delhi's central administration.

If the videos hold up to scrutiny, the pressure on the Home Ministry will not stay rhetorical for long — courts have moved before, and they can move again.