MPs kept a donation box with them and they were seen putting money inside it to symbolise the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Stepping up its attack on the Narendra Modi government over alleged police excesses against students protesting the NEET paper leak and alleged chadhawa chori (donation theft) at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Opposition MPs on Thursday (July 30, 2026) staged a protest at the Makar Dwar, the main entrance to the Parliament House.
Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Sagarika Ghose and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Mahua Maji were among those who participated.
The MPs raised slogans including “chadhawa chor, gaddi chor”, “Grih Mantri sadan mein aao” [Home Minister come to the House] and “who gave the order?”, demanding an explanation for the use of force against protesting students.
They also carried a large banner reading “Who gave the order?” and displayed a donation box, into which they placed money to symbolically highlight their allegations regarding temple donations.
In a post on X, Mr. Venugopal questioned the absence of Home Minister Amit Shah from Parliament, referring to him as “MIA (missing in action)”, and asked who had ordered the use of pellet guns against students. He also alleged that the government had prevented Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi from speaking in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (July 29, 2026).
Political statements and allegations
Opposition leaders used the protest to press for answers on both issues, with several MPs accusing the government of failing to provide clarity on the police response to student demonstrations. The protest was also used to reiterate allegations of irregularities in the management of donations at the Ram temple, which the MPs said required investigation and accountability.
Mamata’s Congress history and a reply from Priyanka Gandhi
The space outside Makar Dwar also saw a sharp exchange between Ms Vadra and suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, who was holding a separate demonstration over his suspension.
Mr. Banerjee was wearing a poster displaying photographs of 20 TMC MPs he described as “traitors from Bengal”. Seeing the poster, a visibly amused Ms. Vadra told the suspended Trinamool MP leaders that many of them had left the Congress to join the TMC.
Mr Banerjee told Ms. Vadra that the Congress would not be in its current position had Mamata Banerjee not been expelled from the party in 1997.
Responding to his remarks, Ms. Vadra recalled that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had extended “love and respect” to Ms. Banerjee during her time in the Congress.
Mr. Banerjee countered that the Congress’s later decision to align with the CPI(M) in West Bengal had created divisions between Ms. Banerjee and the party.
Published – July 30, 2026 01:12 pm IST
