Paper-leak bill won’t help, argue opposition MPs; Priyanka Gandhi questions Pralhad Joshi’s appointment

The several days of logjam in Lok Sabha ended on Tuesday with close to eight hours of discussion of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026. Opposition MPs pressed the government for a response on the police brutality against youth who had joined the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests, first in Delhi and later, in other cities. MPs from BJP and its allies sought to defend prime minister Narendra Modi’s actions with several speaking admiringly of his Instagram posts.

Members of parliament questioned the amendment bill – which mainly increases penalties – and the original law’s effectiveness in curbing leaks and reiterated that formation of committees alone is not going to restore confidence in the education system. PM Modi has set up yet another high-powered committee, this time led by Nandan Nilekan i, to look in paper leaks and the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) .

The debate session also saw a war of words between Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the new education minister, BJP’s Prahlad Joshi, who took over from Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday. Gandhi Vadra pointed out that the ineffectiveness of the fast-track court – also a PM Modi announcement – was already reflected on the first day of the trial. “The CBI counsel did not even appear for the hearing yesterday (Monday),” she said. Quoting a newspaper article, she also questioned Joshi’s appointment, alleging he supported those accused of raping Bilkis Bano.

Meanwhile, Supriya Sule, MP from Nationalist Congress Party-SP(NCP-Sharad Pawar), suggested that a joint parliamentary committee be formed with representation from all stakeholders to draft a bill.

The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026 proposes enhancing the minimum punishment to seven years, increasing the penalty ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 10 crore, complete investigation by the Special Task Force in two months and fast track courts to hear cases of paper leaks. At the time this report was filed, the bill had not been passed.

Priyanka Gandhi targets Prahlad Joshi

Gandhi referred to Joshi as an alleged supporter of a rape convict, which the BJP MPs demanded be expunged from the record.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju called it “character assasination”. Agitated, Joshi, brandishing the rule-book, said, “The rules state that I have to be intimated in advance. She cannot just say anything about me.” Lok Sabha speaker OM Birla had to turn of the microphones several times during the ensuing furore.

‘Paper leak bill’ has no concrete measures: Priyanka Gandhi

Predictably, discussion on the paper leak bill drifted into one on the CJP protest and education in general. “I want to ask the PM and the home minister, why was there a need for such brutality? Why was there a need to lathicharge, use water cannons , disrespect the young women at the protest, and tear their clothes. Why was there a need to use the pellet gun, AK 47 on the youth of the country? Were they terrorists?”

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She also spoke about the rising unemployment and the uptick in student suicides and alleged that the National Testing Agency was created to centralise power.

“The bill was implemented in 2024 itself but so far not even a single conviction in any of the leak cases has taken place. Face recognition tools are being used to identify protestors. Why isn’t it being done to catch those who leak papers? This amendment bill has no provision to stop paper leaks. I wish to tell the honourable PM that perhaps he needs to change his advisors. He has become completely disconnected from reality. Merely forming new committees will not suffice, regardless of who heads them. The Radhakrishnan Committee, too, was formed to bring about systemic improvements , yet not a single one of its recommendations has been implemented to date,” said Gandhi.

She also criticised the members of the new committee. “Ex IB chief, an IT company owner and an expert on gau-mutra (cow urine) – what do they know about education?”

As the MP’s belonging to the BJP and the other members of NDA alliance had earlier spoken about the video address by the PM through instagram, Gandhi remarked, “To win the GenZ’s confidence, just making videos will not do. The PM has to change the angle of his heart and not the camera. This generation can detect lies, you have to follow the path of truth.”

Also read ‘Greta Thunberg visit not planned’: How SFI UK took the CJP protests to Leeds, London and beyond

Paper-leak Bill 2026: NCP-SP asks for JPC

Sule suggested forming a JPC to produce a leak-proof bill and also demanded an inquiry committee to investigate who ordered action against the protesting youth.

On the draft, she said, “The bill is filled with internal contradiction and external inconsistency. Because of this there is going to be confusion in the national policy and institutional calamity.” She added, “We are not against you. This is not about NDA vs UPA, but it is about system vs aspirations.”

Govt which could not stop donation theft, how will they stop paper leak: Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav pointed to closure of the government schools and the poor quality of teachers recruited in higher educational institutions. After listing the leaks in various examinations, he said, “In 2024, when the law was brought, how come there were leaks in 2026? Nothing much can be expected from this government – it could not stop a donation theft, how will they stop paper leaks?” He was referring to the donation theft at Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

He, along with Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, also raised concerns over the outsourcing of staff at NTA and demanded answers from the government on who the 47 officials the body suspended were.

Anti-paper-leak bill is admission of mistake: TMC

Speaking for the Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee said, “We support this bill but we want to make it very clear that just because we support the bill, the government should not expect us to applaud those who set the world on fire because they turned up with a bucket of water. The bill that is being discussed is not a solution; rather, it is an admission that the NDA and BJP government have failed to protect the examination, the students, the merit and today, after the failure is exposed and exploded across the country, it wants the parliament to believe that increasing punishment will erase 12 years of incompetence, but it will not.”

Talking specifically about the bill he asked, “How does increasing punishment help. How does weaker investigation become stronger just because punishment becomes harsher? Where is the punishment for administrative negligence, where is the accountability of examination authorities, ministries, accountability of officials and vendors. The bill is silent on these provisions,” said Banerjee.