“Bringing law against paper leak mere whitewash”: Mallikarjun Kharge targets BJP on NEET row

New Delhi [India], June 22 (ANI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday came down heavily on the ruling government amid the irregularities surrounding the NEET-UG exam, saying that the BJP cannot evade its responsibility in “promoting corruption and education mafia”. He also said bringing a new law is merely a “BJP whitewash.”

In a post in Hindi on ‘X’, the Congress president claimed that 70 question papers were leaked in the last seven years and sought to know why the BJP has taken no action so far.

“No matter how much effort BJP makes in the NEET scam, it cannot escape its responsibility in promoting fraud, corruption and education mafia,” Kharge said on X.

Talking about the anti-paper leak law, Kharge said, “The law against paper leak was not notified, when the Education Minister was asked about it in the press conference, he said that this law has been notified. This law got the assent of the President on 13 February 2024, but the law was notified only last night. Why did the Education Minister of the Modi government lie that the law has been notified and the Ministry of Law and Justice is yet to frame its rules?”

Kharge further said that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan first denied the paper leak, then when arrests were made in Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, he said that since the papers were leaked locally in some places, the exam will not be held again,” Kharge said.

The fact is that in 2015, 44 students were involved, yet the Pre-Medical Test was held again for six lakh candidates on the orders of the Supreme Court,” the Congress president said.

Questioning the government for taking exams again, Kharge said, “On NEET too, the honourable Supreme Court has said that if even 0.001 fraud has taken place then action should be taken, but why is the Modi government not conducting the exam again, even though the education minister has admitted to the irregularities?”

The Congress leader also targeted the National Testing Agency (NTA) and said, “In nine days, NTA has cancelled or postponed three major exams. Even after passing the law, the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB) paper was leaked in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, which has been found to be linked to a company in Gujarat.”

Questioning the paper leak, Kharge said, “Why are papers still being leaked despite passing a law against paper leak? When 70 papers were leaked in the last seven years, why did the Modi government not take any strict action against it?”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and functioning of the NTA.

The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.

“In order to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on Reform in mechanism of examination process improvement in data security protocols and structure and functioning of National Testing Agency,” the ministry said.

NTA is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exams and NET exam. This resulted in several protests across the country with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.

An unprecedented 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, which added to the concerns.