UGC NET, NEET row: ‘PM Modi stopped Russia-Ukraine war but can't stop paper leaks,' says Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the ministry of education (MoE) cancelled the NEET UG 2024 and UGC NET 2024 exam after allegations of paper leak and irregularities in the exam. In a presser on exam fiascos, Rahul Gandhi said: "It is being said that PM Modi stopped the Russia-Ukraine war, but for some reason he has not been able to stop or doesn't want to stop paper leaks in India."

Centre will face pressure from opposition. We will raise this issue in parliament, he stated during the press meeting. On scrapping National Testing Agency, Rahul Gandhi said: “If you will not hire honest people rather hire ideological people, such a crisis will continuously occur. They have no credibility in these matters. If they give clean chit, it means nothing, their credibility is zero,” adding “We have a government that is crippled. It is a profound national crisis. I don't even see a capability of response (from the Centre).”

Highlighting the pressure on students and increasing unemployment, he said: “A large section of students expressed their concern about the paper leak during my yatra in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.”

“It's happening because all our institutions have been captured. Our vice-chancellors are placed not based on merit, but because they belong to a particular organization. And this organization and the BJP have penetrated our education system and destroyed it,” he said.

Underscoring the need for stringent punishment, he said: “What was done by Narendra Modi to the economy with demonetization, has now been done to the education system. The reason this is happening and the reason you're suffering is because an independent, objective education system has been demolished...It is very important that the people who are guilty here are brought to book and they are punished.”

UGC NET, NEET 2024 controversy

The controversy erupted after two exams, UGC NET and NEET exam 2024, were cancelled citing that the competitive exams may have been ‘compromised’. The UGC NET exam for awarding JRF, eligibility for assistant professor and PhD admission was cancelled a day after over 9 lakh took the exam.

Several petitions have also been filed in Supreme Court and high courts against the NEET exam 2024 which reported several irregularities. The re-exam for 1,563 students who were awarded grace marks is scheduled to be administered on June 23.

Earlier today, the ministry of education joint secretary Govind Jaiswal in a press meeting said that the UGC NET June 2024 was cancelled based on the inputs from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) suggesting irregularities. The matter will be probed by the CBI, he added.