Opposition parties continued their protest against the alleged NEET-UG paper leak and examination irregularities for the fourth consecutive day on Friday, July 24, with MPs staging a demonstration at Makar Dwar outside Parliament.
Opposition MPs' placards and banners are calling for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and demand for accountability on the allegations regarding the conduct of NEET-UG.
The Congress, in a post on X, listed three demands it said were representative of the concerns of India’s youth. It wanted Dharmendra Pradhan to quit, action taken against those who charged violence against protesting students and Modi to apologize to the youth in India.
The latest protest came a day after an angry confrontation between members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDIA bloc resulted in a direct conflict between those two sides of the argument.
The protest also occurred ahead of the government meeting with representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) which has been leading protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.
CJP national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said the organisation would continue its protest until Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. He said the delegation was scheduled to meet BJP president JP Nadda and other government representatives, and the organisation also planned to hold a press conference before the meeting.
Ranka also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video message on the paper leak issue, arguing that the government's decision to announce proposed legislation showed that pressure from students and protesters was having an impact.
He said that the strongest possible action would be the removal of the Education Minister and argued that the protesters would consider the government serious about addressing the concerns of India’s youth only if Pradhan resigned.
Narendra Modi announced in a self-recorded video message that the government would introduce a bill with provisions to take action against paper leaks during the second week of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The Prime Minister said the Union Cabinet would discuss the issue and the government would finalise further action based on Cabinet colleagues' advice. He also said the government would try to get the proposed legislation through as soon as possible.
The announcement came as examination irregularities were widely discussed and more and more precautions were required to prevent paper leaks.
The activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his indefinite hunger strike after getting assurance from the government about his demands after the government had met him at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram. The fast was cancelled after union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met with Wangchuk around 11 p.m. at the Medanta Hospital.
The developments have only added more layers to the political and social debate on examination reform. The opposition continues to pressure the Education Minister to resign and to be held accountable for alleged violence against students but has also said that it is preparing stronger legal responses to paper leaks.
The ongoing protests at Parliament and Jantar Mantar, as well as the proposed anti-paper leak legislation in Parliament, are also expected to keep the NEET controversy at the centre of the political debate when Parliament resumes next week.
