Chandigarh, July 23 — The Punjab Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) unit on Thursday declared the politics being played by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the nationwide students' agitation regarding the NEET paper leak as "shameful".
State AAP Media In-Charge Baltej Pannu said that while lakhs of students across the country are fighting for justice and their future, both Congress and the BJP have chosen to level false and baseless allegations against the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab instead of standing with the youth.
In a statement, Pannu added that the students' movement has become so powerful that it has shaken even the Congress, which once ruled the country.
"However, rather than supporting the students' demand for justice, the Congress and the BJP are attempting to mislead people by spreading misinformation about Punjab," he said.
He added that the Congress and the BJP "are deliberately twisting facts. Not a single recruitment examination paper has leaked in Punjab during the nearly five-year tenure of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The incident reported in Faridkot was not a paper leak but a case of cheating through electronic gadgets. The candidate was caught red-handed at the examination centre itself, and the police immediately initiated strict legal action".
He said that despite this, the Congress "is deliberately portraying the incident as a paper leak to mislead the public".
Pannu added that the Congress should first introspect instead of making false allegations against the Punjab government.
"The Congress should answer for the paper leak cases that occurred during its own tenure instead of trying to divert public attention through false statements. At the same time, more than 90 paper leaks took place under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government, putting the future of crores of young people at stake. More than 20 students died by suicide after being devastated by these incidents, yet the Bharatiya Janata Party government neither took timely strict action against those responsible nor made any effort to restore the confidence of the youth," he said.