New Delhi [India], July 29 : A war of words erupted in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday between Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju during the discussion on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, after the Congress leader made a remark while narrating a conversation with a student.
The expression drew objections from the Treasury benches and was later expunged by Speaker Om Birla.
Participating in the debate, Rahul Gandhi recounted a conversation he had with a young student on the meaning of being a student.
"You said to me that you are a student. What does it mean? She gave me the most beautiful answer. She said, 'A student is someone who has an open mind and an open heart. A student is someone who, right from the beginning, accepts that they do not know everything. A student accepts that whatever they know will be superseded later by new knowledge. A student understands that the universe is constantly changing, dynamic, in movement, and so knowledge is also constantly changing. The most important value of a student is humility,'" Gandhi said.
He further quoted the student as saying, "'The student knows that they do not know the truth, that the student respects the truth of all other living beings, all other human beings.' Like Gandhiji said in his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 'the search for my truth,' meaning 'this is my truth, your truth might be different.'"
As Gandhi continued narrating the conversation, his remarks prompted objections from Treasury bench members.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju intervened, saying, "Had Rahul Gandhi not used an 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... He cannot use an unparliamentary word. It should be expunged."
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also urged the Chair to remove the expression from the record, saying, "I humbly request that the unparliamentary word used by the LoP be expunged and I urge everyone on my side to maintain silence and listen to him."
Speaker Om Birla subsequently ordered the expression to be expunged from the proceedings.
Earlier in the debate, Gandhi described the recent student protests over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak as "not anger, not violence, not hatred," but "a deep expression" of India's youth, urging all political parties, including the BJP, to respect the aspirations of students.