Sensitivity of protest venue, stature of LoP led to quicker talks, but Rahul changed goalposts: Govt

The Union government on Tuesday (July 21, 2026) said that Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had “changed the goalposts” with his demands for ending his sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence over the NEET paper leak, resulting in Opposition leaders being summarily detained by Delhi Police.

Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, the designated interlocutor on behalf of the government to speak to Mr. Gandhi, said that the government was willing to discuss the NEET paper leak issue and the behaviour of the administration with regard to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led protest march held on Monday (July 20, 2026), but Mr. Gandhi demurred having agreed earlier.

Read updates from protests across Delhi on July 21, 2026

“When we went there [the dharna spot in front of Mr. Modi’s official residence] and very politely, very humbly I tried to plead before Rahul Gandhi that this was not the manner in which he should be indulging. He said yes, he was ready to suspend this dharna provided he was given an assurance that government was ready for a discussion in Parliament on the issue of NEET exam, the paper leakage, [and] all those issues related to this,” said Mr. Singh.

Subsequently, the Minister said he got in touch with the top leadership of the government and was asked to convey that they were willing to concede the demand.

When he returned to Mr. Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition brought up an additional demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

‘Not gentlemanly’

“Then, I politely tried to submit before him. I said look here, this is not done. Now, this is not a gentlemanly behavior. He said no, it’s my wish, my demands have changed. I said this doesn’t behove an LoP to change stance and change goalposts that frequently. So, we had no option but to leave this part,” he said.

Following this, Mr. Singh left the area and Mr. Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others were detained by the Delhi Police, after an unseemly scuffle.

According to senior government sources, the venue of Mr Gandhi’s sit-in location being right outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence was the reason for the quick reaction and engagement demonstrated by the government. “It is not a designated place of protest and is a high-security zone,” said one senior Minister.

AAP vs BJP

Politically, however, for the government it was not all bad news, as its urgency in engaging with the Congress and not with the CJP, which has been protesting for nearly a month sparked a face-off between senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs and the Congress.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh posted on X that the government was shaken by the strength of the protests spearheaded by CJP (which has the backing of AAP) and the BJP wanted to counter this leading to the sit-in by Mr. Gandhi. “To weaken the CJP’s dharna, Modiji has seated Rahul Gandhi on a dharna at his residence,” Mr. Singh posted. This led to angry reactions from the Congress, and an opportunity for the BJP to say that the protests were more about who gets the credit of raising the issues faced by students and not the students themselves.

National in-charge of BJP’s Information & Technology department Amit Malviya posted on X: “It is quite obvious that the sponsored protests were never about students. No affected student was given a platform. Opposition politicians frequented Jantar Mantar in search of political relevance, and now we see Congress and AAP squabbling over credit.” He claimed that “no one other than the BJP” stands for students.