New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to “forgive” young protesters who used abusive language against him and his late mother triggered sharp reactions on Saturday from Opposition leaders, who accused him of avoiding questions over alleged police action against protesters and the larger issues raised by the agitation.
In a late-night video message posted on Instagram and X on Friday, Modi said it pained him that even his late mother was subjected to “filthy abuses” at Jantar Mantar and expressed “cultural shock” over the language used by young women protesters.
At the same time, he called for forgiving the “misguided children”, saying the youth should be guided rather than punished.
The remarks drew a strong response from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who said, “India’s students do not need his forgiveness. They are owed his apology.” “Behind every young life lost is a family carrying pain that will never leave them – and serious questions about a broken education system. Leaked papers. Cancelled exams. Years of preparation destroyed overnight. Our students are told to work honestly in a system that is not honest with them. And the Prime Minister has the audacity to speak of ‘forgiving’ students. He has not met a single grieving parent. He has not sat with a single student whose future was stolen by a leaked paper,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha wrote on X.
AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said while he agreed with Modi that abusive language should not be used, why did it take “you so long to gain this wisdom”.
“Your people spared no one’s mother, sister, daughter – they hurled the filthiest abuses at everyone,” Singh said.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said “abuse, apologies, reels are all diversionary tactics”, arguing that the focus should remain on alleged police action against protesters.
“Only one real issue – Amit Shah must answer for brutality of police & CRPF/RAF. There is no escaping that,” she posted on X.
Moitra also questioned the prime minister’s reference to “daughters”, saying, “Men abused you too. Please don’t reserve your advice for only ‘daughters’.” RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha said if the prime minister’s call for forgiveness meant that students who used abusive language should be spared FIRs, arrests and court proceedings, it was welcome.
However, he questioned whether those who had “turned abuse into political culture, hatred into electoral strategy, and insult into the acceptable grammar of public discourse” would also be asked to seek forgiveness.
“In public life, the lesson of decency must first be learned by those in power,” Jha said, adding that when language coarsened from the top, society below came to see it as normal.
Left-wing students’ body AISA, which played a key role in the anti-paper leak protests, said the prime minister’s message focused on the language used by young protesters but failed to address the government’s and police’s treatment of protesters.
It alleged that the “real cultural shock” was the use of batons, pellets and bullets against people protesting for their rights, as well as online trolling, doxxing and threats against dissenters.
“All this done by the IT cell run with utmost precision by Amit Malviya. We hope the Prime Minister releases a video addressing this, saying, “I am taking accountability, and I am removing Home Minister Amit Shah”,” AISA said in a statement.
On social media, some users argued that the prime minister’s remarks were less about civility in public discourse and more about selective outrage and the policing of women’s speech.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke also responded to Modi’s reel, commenting whether he will forgive the students only on reel or will the cases against them be withdrawn too.
Several young protesters responded in a style many online users described as reflecting Gen Z’s tendency to turn trolling into content.
Sharing one such satirical reel by a young woman, the CJP said, “After BJP supporters tried to slander her by calling her ‘Babar ki Virasat’, she fired back with an extraordinary PowerPoint presentation. You just can’t beat Gen Z.” Former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said that the focus on protesters’ language overlooked years of misogynistic abuse, online harassment and hate speech directed at critics of the government.
“This perpetual politics of victimhood is not leadership. It is gaslighting,” Jha posted on X, adding that women journalists had faced relentless targeting, students continued to be hounded, and “what India needs is empathy, accountability and the humility to acknowledge failure where it exists.” Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna also criticised the prime minister’s remarks, writing on X, “I think the word for this kind of talk is ‘gaslighting’. A new word Modi and rest can learn.” The CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar from June 20 over alleged NEET irregularities ended after 36 days on July 25 following Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as education minister and the government’s acceptance of the protesters’ other demands. PTI SBR ZMN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.