In Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi leads Oppn charge over NEET-UG row: ‘Minister blamed everyone but himself’

Besides, Gandhi, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, and DMK’s Kalanidhi Veeraswamy also questioned the government over the issue. Gandhi reiterated that the Opposition would continue its pressure on the government over the issue.

‘Nothing to hide’

The Opposition persisted in putting the government over the mat with Congress MP Hibi Eden, calling it the “biggest scam”, and seeking a high-level fact-finding committee to probe into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of all competitive exams during Zero Hour. Eden pointed out that government data shows there were 70 instances of paper leaks in 15 states in the last seven years raising questions on the integrity and credibility of the education system. Earlier, during Question Hour, RSP member and senior MP N K Premachandran asked the government to constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the issue.

With the questions raised by the Opposition about the overhauling of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the cases registered against the leakage of NEET-UG papers listed, Pradhan maintained the Centre has “nothing to hide”, all the facts regarding the issue have been submitted to the Supreme Court and that CBI is already initiated an investigation into the allegations.

The hearing on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-UG paper leak case is underway in the Supreme Court, with Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud leading the bench.

“We have put all the facts before the Supreme Court. Right now, the Supreme Court is hearing the case. So, let’s wait and see what instructions the court gives. This House is open for any kind of discussion,” Pradhan said in response to a question raised by Congress MP Manickam Tagore.

At the same time, the minister denied Tagore’s charge that there had been 70 instances of paper leaks in the last seven years. “Since the establishment of the National Testing Agency (NTA), there were 240 exams for which 5 crore students applied and 4.5 crore students participated also,” he said, adding that there was a “singular incident” in Patna during the recent NEET-UG held on May 5 this year.

‘What exactly are you doing?’

Amidst the Opposition uproar, Tagore asked if Pradhan would take the responsibility and resign, to which the minister said: “I am here in this position at the mercy of my leader PM Modi. When questions of accountability arise, our government will be answerable. Regarding anomalies and information about malpractice, out of 4700 cases, there is only one incident in Patna, and the CBI and police are taking action on it.” “Right now, the matter is before the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice of India is personally presiding over the case,” the minister reiterated.

As Akhilesh ridiculed the government saying it would set a record on paper leaks, Pradhan retorted that the Congress-led UPA government had initiated the process of centralisation and that current criticisms were politically motivated. But it was Gandhi’s intervention that provoked the Treasury Benches the most.

“It is obvious to the whole country that there is a serious issue with all the examinations in the country. The minister blamed everyone but himself. I don’t even think he understands the fundamentals of what is going on here… The issue is there are millions of students in this country who are extremely concerned about what is going on and who are convinced that the Indian examination system is a fraud,” he said.

“Every student in this country thinks, we in the Opposition also think, that if you are rich and if you have money, you can buy the Indian examination system. As this is a systemic issue, what exactly are you doing to fix this issue at the systemic level?” he asked.

An angry Pradhan said it was unfortunate that Gandhi described the examination system as rubbish. He also asked why the UPA government had not framed the law to contain unlawful activities in the competitive examination. The NDA government has passed a law for it, he said.

‘Not right to raise questions about exams’

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla tried to calm down the situation saying that playing “blame games” would negatively impact the Indian education system. “The agency is investigating, and the matter is in court. We should not play blame games,” he said.

He said CBI is probing the issue of exam paper leaks and the Supreme Court is also looking into the matter. “We should look at developing a better system… it is not right to raise questions about all examinations,” Birla said.

Once the Speaker made his remark, Gandhi wanted to speak again but was disallowed. The Opposition, including the Congress, SP, DMK, NCP, and Left members staged a walkout in protest. As they were walking out, Congress Deputy Leader in the House Gaurav Gogoi was heard shouting slogans demanding the resignation of Pradhan.

After the walkout, the Opposition members returned to the House. When he was allowed to raise an issue during the zero hour, Eden spoke on the same issue. “Notably, 67 top-ranking candidates scored 99.9 per cent including six from a single examination centre in Haryana. Who owns this centre? In Gujarat, NTA has selected a school in Godhra as an examination centre despite the fact that the Gujarat High Court had imposed a fine of Rs 35 lakh on the organisation that runs this institute. What credibility would these examinations have? This is one of the biggest scams the country has seen. So, a high-level fact-finding committee should be constituted to look into this,” the MP said.

Outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan “should have responded”. “He spoke about the Supreme Court and PM Modi but he is not able to say what he is doing on this. NEET is a very important issue for the youth. We have always asked for discussion in Parliament but the government is not interested. We will keep raising this issue and keep pressuring the government,” Gandhi told reporters.