NEET Controversy: Rahul Gandhi requests ‘a united message from parliament, govt, opposition’

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon today amid an uproar in the House as the opposition demanded a discussion on the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the medical entrance exam NEET. As soon as the House met, opposition members were on their feet seeking the acceptance of an adjournment motion to suspend all business and discuss matters related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

“A message should go from the Parliament that the Indian government and the opposition are talking about the students together," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.

However, Speaker Om Birla said that he could not allow it as the House was about to take up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on Thursday.

"You can raise all matters in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address. You will get enough time. But I can't allow you to raise any other issue during the debate on the Motion of Thanks. It was already decided and mentioned in the bulletin too," the PTI reported him as saying. With the opposition not relenting, the uproar continued and the speaker subsequently adjourned the House till 12 noon.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told reporters here that the floor leaders of all opposition parties met yesterday and agreed to take up the NEET issue in the House. Besides Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule, both from the NCP-SP; Derek O'Brien from TMC; Sanjay Raut, Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena-UBT; Sanjay Singh, Sandeep Pathak from AAP, NK Premchandran from RSP, and Mahua Majhi from JMM were present on the occasion.

“I request the Prime Minister that this is a youth issue and it should be discussed in a proper manner. You should also join the discussion, because this is a youth issue. A message should go out from the Parliament that the Government and the Opposition of India are talking together about the students,” Rahul Gandhi said.