New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday sharply criticised Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party for allegedly using students as “political tools” during the ongoing protests over the NEET paper leak.
The minister’s remarks came hours after LoP Rahul Gandhi, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other opposition leaders, staged a sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg, demanding the minister’s resignation.
In a strongly worded post on X, Pradhan wrote: “LoP Shri RahulGandhi and INC India (Indian National Congress) continue to shamelessly exploit students as political tools to manufacture disruption during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.”
He added that LoP Rahul Gandhi and INC India chose to stage a dharna outside the Prime Minister’s residence, causing inconvenience to the public and disregarding established security protocols.
The minister further said that even after the Government conveyed its readiness for a comprehensive discussion, the Congress chose political spectacle over democratic debate. “Their objective was never solutions for students; it was disruption for political headlines,” Pradhan remarked.
He continued that for Rahul Gandhi, the issue was not about students but about manufacturing confrontation after every genuine avenue for discussion had been opened. “Our Government remains 100 per cent committed to discussing NEET and addressing every genuine concern of our youth on the floor of the House,” he said.
The Education Minister concluded his post by saying that the students of India deserve far better than being treated as props in a political campaign. “They deserve certainty over chaos, solutions over slogans and responsibility over disruption. We owe our students more than outrage. We owe them answers, reforms and accountability. That is exactly what our Government remains committed to delivering,” he said.
The minister’s post came on a day when LoP Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders were detained by Delhi Police during their protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi.
The Congress has been demanding a thorough probe into the NEET-UG paper leak and Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The confrontation highlights the deepening rift between the Government and the Opposition over the sensitive issue of paper leaks in competitive examinations, which continues to affect lakhs of students across the country.
–IANS
sktr/dan