Sharpening its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress party labelled the NEET scam `Vyapam 2.0’. Stepping up its attack it questioned Prime Minister 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 the 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.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused the NDA government of evading responsibility and condemned the NTA’s alleged efforts to minimise the gravity of the scam by granting grace marks to medical and engineering students affected by the time lost during the investigation.
“Now think to what level this government can stoop to cover up this matter,” he said. “The name is NEET, but looking at the result, this process does not seem to be ‘clean’ or ‘healthy’ at all.”
Khera said that the NEET 2024 exam, which determines the future of 24 lakh young people, has been compromised. “In the last eight years, only seven students scored full marks, but this year, 67 students achieved full marks. The education minister has no answer to this anomaly”.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the central government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a plea for CBI probe into allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in connection with the NEET-UG exam.