Rahul Gandhi backs students in CBSE OSM row, questions government over answer-sheet mix-ups

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday targeted the Centre over the CBSE OSM row, sharing a video of his interaction with a group of students and describing them as brave young Indians who asked the Modi government simple questions but received "insults instead of answers".

Asserting that the students deserved a bright future, Gandhi said, "We will make sure they get it". Posting the clip on his social media accounts, Gandhi described it as a "revealing chat with my fellow 'anti-national Soros agents'." "Vedant and his friends are brilliant, brave young Indians who asked CBSE and the Modi government simple questions -- but got insults instead of answers," Gandhi said in his post on X, accompanying the video.

"They deserve a bright and secure future. We will make sure they get it," he added. Vedant, a Class 12 student, had recently alleged in a post on X that the Physics answer sheet uploaded by the CBSE under the revaluation process was not his. It went viral, after which several other students took to social media with similar claims.

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CBSE OSM: Rahul backs students, seeks accountability

In the video, Gandhi is seen having an informal chat with Vedant and other students about their ordeal. He also joked about how they were labelled "Pakistanis" and "deep state agents" after raising what he called legitimate concerns and issues.

"You are students. You are asking for your answer sheets, that's all. Now, suddenly, you have become anti-nationals. You have to accept the problem if you have to solve the problem. You are refusing to accept the problem and blaming the poor kids and saying 'you are deep state, you are spies, terrorists'," Gandhi says in the video, attacking the government over the On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy.

"Were you also called terrorists? Tell me!" Gandhi asks Vedant, his brother and some other students in the 90-second clip, apparently part of a larger interaction. During the interaction , Gandhi also laughingly tells the cameraperson : "Bhaiyya, show the faces of these 'terrorists'!" Several CBSE Class 12 students had flagged mix-up cases after accessing scanned copies uploaded on the portal and finding that the answer sheets did not belong to them.

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CBSE Answer Sheet Mismatch: IIT experts examining

CBSE later reached out to them and shared their correct answer sheets. The board said that it had taken up on "top priority" the cases related to alleged mismatched answer sheets and other concerns faced by students in the revaluation process.

Experts from IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur, along with Digital Infrastructure Corporation of India (DICI), are examining the system and strengthening the portal and payment gateway integration, according to government sources. Coempt, the company that did the OSM for the CBSE exam, has come under attack from Gandhi, who alleged that the firm was already mired in controversy under its old name, Globarena.

The leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha has demanded an independent judicial probe, as well as an SIT inquiry to unearth the truth behind the "entire scam", and asked why a firm that had a murky past in Telangana handed the contract to the board.