New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday stepped up its attack on the Centre over the NEET paper-leak issue, with Rahul Gandhi demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately sack Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan or take responsibility himself.
The youth wing of the Congress staged a protest here demanding Pradhan’s resignation over the issue and the alleged suicides of four NEET aspirants.
Holding posters, banners, and party flags, Indian Youth Congress activists took out a protest march from the Teen Murti Circle towards the education minister’s residence, before they were stopped by police barricades.
Gandhi demanded that Modi immediately sack Pradhan or take responsibility himself and alleged that the “BJP-RSS nexus” has destroyed India’s education system.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha said the hard work of 22 lakh NEET aspirants has gone to waste.
“The whole country knows that two days before the NEET, its question paper was being distributed on WhatsApp. Dharmendra Pradhanji says he has nothing to do with the matter. The (parliamentary) committee had made recommendations but he put it in the dustbin on the pretext that opposition people were on the committee and that it was of no use,” Gandhi said in a video statement.
“The truth is that you (government) have damaged the core of India. This is a nexus of the RSS, the BJP and their people that have been installed in universities, vice-chancellors and professors to mint money,” the former Congress president alleged.
This nexus has destroyed India’s education system, he added.
“The whole country knows that if you want to become the vice-chancellor of a university, you do not need subject knowledge, experience, you just have to be from the RSS. If your ideology is not that of the RSS, then you cannot become a vice-chancellor,” Gandhi alleged.
This is the reason that exam papers have been leaked 80 times in the country and the future of two crore youngsters has been destroyed, he said.
“The prime minister should immediately order that Dharmendra Pradhan should be sacked and the people who are guilty of this put in jail,” Gandhi said.
In a post on X along with the video, Gandhi said, “2.2 million NEET aspirants have been betrayed. Yet, Modiji has not uttered a single word. Remove Dharmendra Pradhanji immediately, or take responsibility yourself. Modiji, SACK Dharmendra Pradhanji NOW.”
In another post in Hindi, the Congress leader said, “Mr Dharmendra Pradhan has betrayed 22 lakh NEET aspirants. Furthermore, he has insulted Parliament itself — by dismissing the parliamentary committee’s report solely because it included MPs from the opposition.”
How can those who do not even trust Parliament be expected to be trusted with NEET reforms, he asked.
“Remove Mr Pradhan immediately,” Gandhi said, tagging a post on the National Students’ Union of India’s (NSUI) protest against the NEET paper “leak”.
In another post, Gandhi said under the Modi government, there is no accountability — only a fixed formula of deceit.
“First, a prolonged silence. Then, protection for the culprits. Finally, attacks on those asking questions. The NEET paper leaked — yet not a single minister resigned,” he said.
“In 2024, the NTA DG was ‘removed’ — only to be subsequently appointed as the principal secretary to a chief minister. This government is not one that accepts accountability — it is a machine designed to evade it,” Gandhi said, using the hashtag “Sack Pradhan”.
Taking a swipe at Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said he must hold a “pariksha leaks pe charcha (discussion on exam leaks)”, asserting that mere silence will achieve nothing.
“Under the Modi government, the ‘Amrit Kaal’ is proving to be ‘Mrit Kaal’ for students preparing for recruitment examinations,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
“According to reports, several students have committed suicide due to the trauma caused by the NEET paper-leak scandal. Ritik Mishra from Lakhimpur Kheri, 20-year-old Anshika Pandey from Delhi, Pradeep Meghwal from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, and a student from Bengaluru residing in Goa — all have taken this tragic, suicidal step,” Kharge said.
“Some had harboured this dream since childhood; others staked everything on fulfilling their families’ expectations, spending years in preparation. Yet, the Modi government’s corrupt and incompetent system has trampled upon their dreams,” he said.
Under the Modi regime, more than 90 examination papers have been leaked, Kharge claimed, adding that over nine crore students and their families have been adversely affected.
“The raging fire of unemployment is already destroying the future of the youth. Now, a paper-leak mafia — operating under the patronage of the BJP — is tearing to shreds the government’s claims of conducting examinations in a fair and transparent manner,” the Congress chief said.
“Prime Minister Modi has now even started engaging in ‘fact-checking’ himself…. Yesterday, he tweeted about the ‘Ease of Living’, yet he maintained a complete silence regarding the NEET paper leak and the ensuing student suicides,” Kharge said.
The officials implicated in the 2024 NEET paper leak have not faced any punishment and instead, have been rewarded with lucrative and plum postings, he alleged.
This is precisely why the future of youngsters is being “looted” year after year, he claimed.
The situation has become so dire that even the Delhi Medical Association has now written a letter to the Union education minister, Kharge said.
“The water has now risen above our heads; the situation has become completely untenable,” he added.
“The Union education minister must resign immediately,” Kharge said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh flagged the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education’s recommendations on the National Testing Agency (NTA), sharing a media report on it on X.
“The Modi government’s education ecosystem — populated by third-rate academic mediocrities — has proven itself to be supremely incompetent, politicised, and corrupt over the last few years,” Ramesh alleged.
“Every passing month brings up a new crisis — the NCERT textbook row, the UGC’s draft regulations on the appointment of VCs, the constant paper leaks, the NAAC bribery scandal, the ICHR scam, the blatantly unconstitutional withholding of Samagra Shiksha funds, the absentee Vice Chancellors appointed in several key central universities, and the large-scale vacancies in teaching positions in higher educational institutions,” he said.
Now, it is evident that the education ministry’s incompetence is matched only by its minister’s arrogance, Ramesh said.
“When asked by the media why his ministry did not heed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education’s recommendations on the NTA, the minister refused to take the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report seriously because it has ‘members from the opposition’,” he said.
The fact is that of the 30 members of Parliament in the panel, 17 are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) itself, Ramesh pointed out.
Part of the committee’s recommendations includes a reiteration of the K Radhakrishnan Expert Committee’s report that the minister cites. The minister’s refusal to acknowledge the parliamentary standing committee is a dismissal of his own party’s MPs and Parliament’s bipartisan traditions, he said.
“The prime minister takes great pride and gives great publicity to his annual Pariksha pe Charcha extravaganza. What the need of the hour is a ‘Pariksha ki Samiksha’. The Education Minister doesn’t appear to be cut out for the task,” the Congress leader claimed.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) held on May 3 was cancelled following allegations of irregularities in the examination process.
