Won’t stop until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns: Rahul Gandhi

Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday intensified his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over this year's NEET-UG paper leak controversy, accusing him of failing to take responsibility for the crisis or sack Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

In a post on X in Hindi, the Lok Sabha LoP said the Congress would continue its agitation until Pradhan resigns and a strong mechanism to prevent paper leaks is established.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Gandhi contrasted Modi’s recent overseas engagement with protests by students in India. “When Modi ji was making reels while handing out candies in Italy (to Italian PM Giorgia Meloni), youth in India — troubled by paper leaks — were on the streets demanding justice,” he wrote.

Alleging that the NEET paper leak had devastated the futures of lakhs of students, Gandhi claimed that some students had even lost their lives amid the controversy. “Modi ji neither took responsibility, nor removed Dharmendra Pradhan, nor uttered a single word,” he said.

The former Congress president also accused BJP governments in states of cracking down on students and party workers participating in protests. Referring to demonstrations by students, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Congress workers, Gandhi alleged that BJP-ruled states were “raining lathis” on protesters seeking justice.

“A government that answers students’ questions with lathis doesn’t run on accountability — it runs on fear,” he said. “But we will not be scared. We won’t stop until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns and a strong, secure system is put in place to stop paper leaks in the country.”

Calling it a fight for students whose future had been harmed by what he termed a “failed” government, Gandhi tagged a Rajasthan Congress post carrying a purported video showing water cannons being used against protesting students and NSUI workers outside the BJP headquarters in Jaipur.

The Congress had organised the Jaipur protest demanding Pradhan’s removal as education minister over the alleged NEET paper leak.

With PTI inputs