The Congress party has intensified its criticism of the government regarding the NEET exam issue, raising serious questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the matter. According to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, only a Supreme Court-monitored forensic probe can ensure justice and safeguard the futures of countless young students.
Kharge accused the Modi government of attempting to cover up the NEET scam through Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA).
He pointed to the arrest of 13 individuals in Bihar related to a paper leak, highlighting the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police's findings of substantial payments, ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, made to education mafias and organised gangs for leaked exam papers.
Additionally, Kharge mentioned a similar bust in Godhra, Gujarat, where three people, including a coaching centre operator, a teacher, and another individual, were arrested.
The Gujarat Police discovered transactions exceeding Rs 12 crore between the accused and the students' families. These incidents raise doubts about the integrity of the NEET-UG examination and the government's claims that no papers were leaked.
The Congress president argued that the Modi government has let down the 24 lakh students who appear for the NEET exam each year with aspirations of becoming doctors.
These students toil day and night for the limited one lakh medical seats available, many of which are reserved for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS categories. Kharge alleged that the government, by misusing the NTA, has manipulated marks and ranks, making it harder for deserving students to secure seats, particularly in government colleges where fees are more affordable.
The alleged misconduct includes manipulation of cut-off marks for reserved categories and a broader scheme involving grace marks and paper leaks. Kharge emphasised that such actions deprive meritorious students of their rightful opportunities and futures.
At a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Pawan Khera, head of Congress' media and publicity department, labelled the NEET scam as "Vyapam 2.0," drawing parallels to the notorious scam in Madhya Pradesh's Professional Examination Board in 2013. In that case, candidates secured admission by bribing officials and employing imposters to write exams on their behalf.
Khera criticised Education Minister Pradhan's dismissive comments about widespread protests and legal challenges as "motivated," arguing that they add insult to injury for the 24 lakh aspirants whose futures are now at risk.
Khera posed several pointed questions to PM Modi and Pradhan, asking if they could deny the findings of substantial payments uncovered by the EOU in Patna and the cheating racket in Godhra.
Khera also pointed out anomalies in the NEET-UG 2024 results, such as the unusually high number of perfect scores and the clustering of toppers with similar roll numbers from the same examination centres. He questioned why the results were declared ten days earlier than usual, suggesting this might indicate irregularities.
Demanding transparency, Khera urged the Modi government and the NTA to publicly release detailed results and data to allow for independent verification. He called for a correlation between board marks and NEET marks and the release of examination centre videos to uncover any potential fraud.
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