Stepping up its attack on the government over the NEET exam issue, the Congress on Friday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the matter and asserted that only a Supreme Court-monitored forensic probe can safeguard the future of lakhs of young students.
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 lakh-Rs 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 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," he asked. "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. It appears that a game of grace marks, paper leaks and rigging was played to deprive meritorious students from getting government admission at concessional rates, Kharge said. -- PTI