The Opposition protest on Thursday was led by the Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule.

The Opposition MPs raised slogans against paper leaks as well as the theft of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple.

On the other side were NDA MPs – JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha, BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, Tarun Chugh and Dilip Saikia, among others.

There were several moments during the protests when the two sides came face-to-face, raising slogans against each other.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Congress MP Imran Masood said: “They (NDA MPs) were raising their slogans, and we were raising ours. Our slogans were louder, and we had more conviction.”

Speaking to reporters after the protest, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: “Have you ever seen in the history of our democracy that the government’s MPs protest outside Parliament? They can’t run Parliament; they are extremely weak and cowardly. What kind of treatment is being meted out to the youth in this democracy? They are being oppressed for legitimate demands; lathis and tear gas are being used on them.”

She asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “who takes credit for every Indian’s achievement, isn’t taking responsibility for the paper leaks”. “152 papers have been leaked and no one has been punished. Modi ji should take responsibility for this,” she said.

BJP MP Dilip Saikia said NDA MPs staged a protest against the obstruction “created by the Congress-led Opposition in the running of the Parliamentary proceedings”. “We urge the Congress not to run away and participate in the vital discussions regarding the students of our country in the Parliament,” he said.