Rajasthan paper leak: BJP MP alleges involvement of minister in Gehlot govt, he denies

BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena said that technical education minister Subhash Garg was involved in the paper leak case and was also linked to the Rajiv Gandhi Study Circle.

Garg denied the accusations as “baseless” and said these were merely BJP’s attempt to gain political mileage.

Police investigations have found that the question paper REET, which was held on September 26 last year, was leaked two days before the examination. A question paper is believed to have been stolen from an office of the state education department and that the accused allegedly received at least Rs 1.22 crore in exchange for the paper.

The Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government has taken action against top officials of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE), responsible for conducting REET, and the police have so far questioned the board’s officials. The board’s chairman too has been dismissed, and its secretary suspended.

“The Rajiv Gandhi Study Circle (RGSC) does the work of furthering the ideology of the Congress. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is its chairperson and Dr Subhash Garg is its national coordinator. During the REET exams, most of the coordinators and observers were appointed on the directions of Subhash Garg,” BJP MP Meena said in Jaipur on Sunday.

“Garg is also involved in the REET paper leak case and he should be dismissed, and the SOG (Special Operations Group of police) be permitted to question him because the examination’s paper has been leaked in a planned way in the entire state under the guidance of Subhash Garg,” the BJP lawmaker said.

The official website of the RGSC lists Garg as its national coordinator.

The NGO, however, distanced itself from the controversy and said it has no formal role in REET. “RGSC is an NGO committed to drive discussion on social issues and engage in discourse about the freedom movement… We conduct seminars and other programmes. We are not related to any political party. The allegations being made are politically motivated,” RGSC state coordinator Dr Baney Singh said on Sunday.

The BJP MP also said that Pradeep Parashar, the REET coordinator for Jaipur district, is also associated with the RGSC. Parashar is currently under scrutiny by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police for allegedly engaging Ramkripal Meena — the man accused of stealing the REET question paper.

To this allegation, Singh admitted that Parashar is a member of the RGSC, but added that he was engaged by the state education department for REET and the NGO has no role to play in the examination. “There were thousands of teachers who were on duty during REET, fulfilling various responsibilities and overseeing the arrangements. The BJP too has teachers’ associations subscribing to their ideology. Are they being asked about their ideology?… RGSC is being unnecessarily dragged in the issue,” Singh said.

Without naming the person, the BJP leader further pointed the blame at a “very big politician of Rajasthan” and said that this person took Rs 10 lakh each from REET candidates in Sikar to sell them a list of questions.

Technical education minister Garg denied the accusations and said this was a “conspiracy”.

“The allegations made by (Kirodi Lal )Meena are completely baseless and I deny all of them. This is a political conspiracy. Opposition parties are trying to create a wrong environment. When investigating agencies are independently doing their job, one should wait for the result of the investigation. Our Chief Minister has said there will be zero tolerance towards those who break the law. Nobody is above the law, including me,” Garg told The Sunday Express.

Garg, the Bharatpur MLA of the Congress’s ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in the state, played down the allegations against RGSC and any wrongdoing by the NGO. “I have been associated with teacher organisations since the 1980s. These are organisations with secular values. There are thousands of people who are associated with these organisations… They (BJP) are trying to get political mileage out of this,” he said.

He added that he has not been associated with the RGSC’s activities since he became a minister in 2018. RGSC state coordinator Singh corroborated this statement, saying that Garg holds the position of a national coordinator but does not take part in day-to-day activities of the NGO.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Gehlot too said in Jaipur that the state government is taking the issue “very seriously” and hinted that it may not support transferring the probe to the CBI.

The Rajasthan government has allowed the recruitment of REET candidates who cleared the September exam to go ahead as is.