A sharp political confrontation has broken out among opposition parties following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s protest near Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi, with the Aam Aadmi Party accusing the Congress of undermining the broader student movement led by the Cockroach Janta Party.
After Rahul Gandhi was removed from the protest site and detained, senior AAP leaders publicly claimed that the Congress was “playing along” with the BJP. They alleged that the Modi government responded swiftly to the Congress demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s residence while continuing to ignore the longer-running protests by Sonam Wangchuk and the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh stated on social media that the Prime Minister had arranged for Rahul Gandhi to stage a protest specifically “to weaken the CJP’s movement.” Delhi Assembly Leader of Opposition Atishi went further, noting that the government had refused dialogue with the Cockroach Janta Party and Wangchuk for weeks yet began talks with the Congress within an hour of Rahul Gandhi’s demonstration. She referred to Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s meeting with the Congress MP outside the residence shortly after the protest began. Atishi also claimed that the same Delhi Police which had prevented CJP protesters from advancing even 100 metres towards Parliament during a Monday march had allowed Rahul Gandhi to reach the Prime Minister’s residence, arguing this demonstrated that “Congress-BJP is one unit.”
The remarks drew immediate backlash. Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad replied to Sanjay Singh that the comments were unexpected and had “shamed our friendship.” Congress leader Srinivas BV questioned the origin of the AAP posts, while stand-up comedian and filmmaker Varun Grover publicly urged Atishi to “have some shame and delete this.” AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj separately described the Congress sit-in as a “BJP jugalbandi with Congress.”
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya entered the exchange, asserting that the protests had never genuinely centred on students, that no affected students had been given a platform, and that opposition politicians had merely sought political relevance at Jantar Mantar. He claimed the current Congress-AAP squabble over credit further proved the point, adding that only the BJP stood for students.
