The Congress, today, Friday, June 14, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exam issue, and asserted that only a Supreme Court-monitored forensic probe can safeguard the future of lakhs of young students.
As per a PTI report, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the Modi government has started "covering up the NEET scam" through Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA).
"If the paper was not leaked in NEET then — why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of Rs 30-50 lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?" he said in a post in Hindi on X.
"Has the NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher and another person and according to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than Rs 12 crore have come to light between the accused?" Kharge said.
If according to the Modi government, no paper was leaked in NEET, then why were these arrests made, the post further added.
"What conclusion is drawn from this? Was the Modi government trying to fool the people of the country earlier or now? The Modi government has crushed the aspirations of 24 lakh youth," Kharge said.
Twenty four lakh youth appear in NEET exam to become doctors, and work hard day and night for one lakh medical seats, he said.
"Out of these 1 lakh seats, around 55,000 are in government colleges where seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, EWS categories. This time the Modi government has misused the NTA and has massively rigged the marks and ranks, due to which the cut-off for reserved seats has also increased," the Congress chief alleged.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the government over the issue, added PTI.
"Looks like NEET under this regime is more like CHEAT— Central Hyped Entrance Admission Test," he said on X.
Addressing a press conference on the issue at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera claimed that the "NEET scam is Vyapam 2.0" and the Modi government wants to whitewash it.
The scam in Vyapam or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board broke out in 2013, wherein, candidates had bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answer sheets.
"PM Modi cannot always remain a mute spectator. Why is he silent when the future of 24 lakh youngsters is at stake?" he said.