Attacking me won't absolve you of your crimes: Rahul hits back at Pradhan

Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sharpened his attack on Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET-CBSE controversy, saying personal attacks against him would neither absolve the minister of responsibility nor deter demands for accountability over the future of 18.5 lakh students.

The remarks came after Pradhan accused Gandhi of politicising the issue, describing the LoP as “frustrated” and opposed to India’s technological and scientific progress.

“Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want, but it won’t absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children,” Gandhi said in a post on X.

Raising a series of questions over the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, Gandhi asked why the contract was awarded to COEMPT, which he described as a company “already mired in controversy under its old name, Globarena”.

“On whose orders was it done? Why were no background checks done? What is the connection between COEMPT’s management and the Modi government?” he asked.

Gandhi alleged that the government was culpable irrespective of whether due diligence had been conducted. “Either you ran a background check and went ahead anyway — or you didn’t run one at all. Either way, you are complicit,” he said.

The Congress leader further argued that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been genuinely concerned about students, he would have removed Pradhan from the cabinet long ago for endangering the future of large numbers of examinees.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh also mounted a strong criticism of the education minister, accusing him of arrogance, political theatrics and administrative failure.

“Arrogance and political dramabaazi is the best the Mantri Pradhan can come up with, even amidst the chaos he has created for lakhs of India’s students and the absolute incompetence he has shown as minister,” Ramesh said on X.

He alleged that Pradhan, after taking aim at the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, was now targeting the Leader of Opposition while presiding over what he called a ministry plagued by corruption and mismanagement.

“His thick skin and false bravado are a great fit for the Modi-Shah brand of politics: utterly shameless and disinterested in governance,” Ramesh said, adding that the minister’s conduct was enabled by Prime Minister Modi’s “patronage”.

Ramesh also linked responsibility for the controversy directly to the prime minister, claiming that Modi had continued to back Pradhan even after the 2024 NTA controversy.

Responding to Gandhi’s allegations, Pradhan said the CBSE had acted in accordance with the Government of India’s procurement rules and maintained that action would be taken if any irregularities came to light.

“But as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he seems to have reached a different state of mind. Due to continuous electoral defeats, he appears frustrated. He opposed SIR, he used to oppose EVMs, and he opposed Digital India. He does not seem to stand with India’s scientific progress,” Pradhan said.

The minister acknowledged inconvenience caused to students and took responsibility on behalf of the government, while urging political leaders not to aggravate the anxiety of examinees.

“Right now, the most important thing is that the mental stress of these students and examinees should not increase further. We appeal to everyone that no one’s words or behaviour should add to their stress,” he said.

On Wednesday, Gandhi had alleged “massive irregularities” in the CBSE examination process and demanded an independent judicial inquiry as well as a Special Investigation Team probe into what he termed the “entire scam”. He had also claimed that CBSE awarded the digital evaluation contract for answer-sheet assessment to a firm with a controversial background in Telangana.

With PTI inputs