Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Criticizes BJP Over NEET Paper Leak
New Delhi [India], June 22: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Friday regarding the NEET paper leak issue. He stated that under BJP’s rule, the future of two crore youth has been ruined over the last seven years. Kharge emphasized that Congress will strongly raise the voice of the youth.
Kharge said, “In BJP rule, the education mafia has a free hand in corruption. In 7 years, 70 papers have been leaked and the future of 2 crore youth has been ruined. The NEET exam paper leak scam is a symbol of the utter apathy of the Modi government towards the youth. Today Congress held a protest across the country. Congress will raise the voice of the youth strongly.”
Amidst irregularities surrounding the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate 2024 (NEET-UG), the Congress held protests nationwide on Friday. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi questioned the accountability of the BJP government, stating, “The laxity and corruption of the BJP government is fatal for the youth. After the news of the scam in the NEET exam, now the NET exam held on June 18 has also been cancelled due to the fear of irregularities. Will accountability be fixed now? Will the education minister take responsibility for this lax system?”
The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay the NEET-UG 2024 counseling process and issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA). A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti has tagged fresh pleas with pending petitions and scheduled a hearing for July 8. The court also issued a notice to the Centre and NTA on a petition by students from the Meghalaya Centre who lost 45 minutes during the exam and requested to be included among the 1,563 students who received grace marks and the option to reappear for the exam on June 23.
The NEET-UG 2024 exam was conducted on May 5, with results declared on June 4. Protests arose due to alleged irregularities and paper leaks, as 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720. The Supreme Court has allowed a re-test for over 1,500 students who were awarded grace marks. The NTA informed the Supreme Court that the scorecards of these candidates would be cancelled, and they could reappear for the exam on June 23 or forgo the compensatory marks.
