PM incapable of stopping paper leaks: Rahul Gandhi after Centre cancels NET-UGC

New Delhi: A day after the Centre cancelled the UGC-NET examination amid prima facie indications that the integrity of the exam “may be” compromised, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is incapable or unwilling to stop the paper leaks”.

He alleged that “the reason for the paper leak is that the education system has been captured by the BJP and its parent organisation,” setting the stage for a new confrontation with the government over the larger controversy around the NEET exam, which is facing allegations of irregularities.

Gandhi, who is set to become the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, announced that the government is “going to get such pressure from the Opposition, that we will make sure that this issue is resolved...Opposition is simply not going to allow this eyewash that is taking place.”

Also read: UGC-NET 2024 cancelled: Mallikarjun Kharge questions PM Narendra Modi; how Opposition leaders reacted

Amid controversies surrounding the NEET and NET exam, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday that the Union government will not tolerate malpractice and irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) but indicated that scrapping the entire entrance examination was unlikely as the sanctity of the process could not be judged by irregularities in a handful of sessions.

In an official press release, the education ministry said that a day after the exam was held, the UGC received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) that “the integrity of the exam might have been compromised”.

“To ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India has decided that the UGC-NET June 2024 Examination be cancelled. A fresh examination shall be conducted, for which information shall be shared separately,” the ministry said.

Gandhi’s latest attack on the government also comes amid chaos and allegations engulfing the premier examination that threaten to jeopardise the futures of hundreds of thousands of students.

Recalling how thousands of youths had highlighted the perils of paper leaks during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of appointing Vice Chancellors and other heads in education institutes not purely on merit but for their ideological position towards the BJP and its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

“A strict law is required to stop paper leaks. But if you put incapable and mediocre people at top posts only because they are ideologically inclined towards the BJP and its parent organisation, such incidents will happen. This started from what the BJP calls its laboratory of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. As long as these institutions are not rescued from these people, such things (malpractice) will continue to grow under the BJP,” Gandhi said.

Also Read: Can’t allow even 0.001% negligence in NEET: SC

Gandhi demanded that it is important that the guilty be brought to book and said that the NEET/NET issue would be raised in the upcoming parliament session that starts on Monday. He added that the rules and system of universities have to be “reviewed and changed.”

The Congress leader said students are under “huge pressure” due to large-scale unemployment and other issues. “The first issue is large-scale unemployment. All youngsters believe Mr Modi is incapable of solving it. You are cutting job avenues and shutting down exam avenues. You are shutting down the public sector...It doesn’t matter whether you are in IIT or you want to join the army, the youths of India have nowhere to go.”

Gandhi also claimed that PM Modi is “psychologically collapsed” and people are no more scared of him.

“He is psychologically collapsed. His idea of running the government is to generate fear. Now people are not scared of him. The basic concept of Modi had been destroyed in this election…”