’Will Rahul Gandhi apologise for defaming Indian exams?’ asks BJP after Supreme Court verdict on NEET-UG row

The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of fuelling lack of trust in country’s examination system following the NEET-UG paper leak at a few places. The saffron party leaders have asked the Leader of Opposition (LoP) to apologise over his comments after the Supreme Court’s July 23 verdict refusing re-examination

The top court on July 23 dismissed the pleas seeking cancellation and re-test of the exam, holding that there was no evidence on record to conclude that it was ‘vitiated’ on account of “systemic breach” of its sanctity. The court said the leak occurred in a couple of cities.

A day after the verdict, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of defaming India’s examination globally over his comments on the NEET-UG controversy

“His choice of words were violative of Parliament’s dignity and the dignity of the office of the Leader of Opposition,” Prasad said.

The former Union Minister dismissed Gandhi’s criticism of the budget as a “kursi bachao budget”, saying it was not the BJP’s fault if people have repeatedly rejected him and his party in the elections.

Defending the government’s action on the NEET-UG row, the BJP leader said the probe in the matter was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the candidature of 155 examinees was cancelled.

“Over 23.5 lakh students took it at 4,750 centres across 571 cities,” he said.

Prasad said Rahul Gandhi used words like ‘fraud’ to attack the whole examination and now the Court has made it clear that there was no systemic breach in the sanctity of the test, he said.

“Will Rahul Gandhi apologise…,” he asked, claiming that paper leaks were rife during the governments led by the Congress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government has enacted a strong law against paper leak incidents, Prasad said.

Last month, amid the NEET UG row, Centre enacted the “Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.” This law, which came into force on June 21, aims to put and end to unfair means in public examinations and common entrance tests held across the country.