New Delhi, July 23 — Opposition MPs on Thursday staged a protest at Makar Dwar inside the Parliament premises over the NEET paper leak and examination irregularities, reiterating their demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The demonstration was attended by Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress General Secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several other Opposition leaders, who held banners carrying slogans against the Education Minister.

The protest coincided with a parallel demonstration by the NDA at Makar Dwar, where leaders of the ruling alliance accused the Opposition of politicising the NEET paper leak issue. The government maintained that it had already agreed to hold a discussion on examination-related irregularities in Parliament and alleged that the Opposition was continuing to disrupt House proceedings despite the offer for a debate.

The Opposition, however, remained firm on its demand that Dharmendra Pradhan should step down. Opposition leaders also reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post on X regarding the establishment of fast-track courts to deal with paper leak cases.

Speaking to reporters, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra criticised the Prime Minister's remarks, saying they failed to address the core demand raised by students.

"This has become like a situation where a child says, 'Father, I want to become a designer,' and the father replies, 'Don't worry, I have already arranged your admission in an engineering college.' The problem is that the child is saying one thing, but you are saying something else. You are leaders; this is the time to show leadership. Show leadership and listen to what the students are saying. Their demand is clear - Dharmendra Pradhan should resign," she said.

She further questioned the government's response to the issue, arguing that restoring students' confidence required concrete action rather than assurances.

"That is exactly the point. This is what the students are saying. When trust is broken, and if you want to rebuild that trust, you have to step out of the existing system and take some steps. What are those steps? First, ask your minister to resign. What happened was not a small matter -- students were beaten, and then the next morning you tweet saying that you care deeply about the students. If you really care, then why were they beaten?" she asked.

Speaking to IANS, Congress MP K.C. Venugopal also questioned the Prime Minister's social media post, alleging that the government's statements lacked credibility in the absence of concrete action.

"After all this, what is this? False claims, false claims. Nobody believes his words nowadays. Nobody believes his words. The credibility of his words has already disappeared. Nobody is going to believe him because there has been no action from the government. First of all, he has to remove Dharmendra Pradhan from the Education Ministry. Then he has to talk to the students," Venugopal said.

Congress MP Hibi Eden also reiterated the Opposition's demand for accountability, claiming that repeated incidents of question paper leaks had gone unaddressed.

Speaking to IANS, Eden said, "In the last more than 10 years, we have heard of more than 100 paper leaks. I raised this issue in Parliament exactly two years ago, on July 22, 2024. I raised the same issue, and more than 70 paper leaks had happened. Till now, no inquiry has happened on this particular issue, and we do not expect the government to have an inquiry on this. We urgently demand the removal of the particular Minister of Education from his position."

Congress MP Selja Kumari also criticised the Prime Minister's post on social media, saying that public confidence could only be restored through tangible action rather than announcements.

Speaking to IANS, she said, "Even now, there is only a tweet, but no action has been taken so far. Saying that we will do this or that in the future is just talk. People now want action. They want to know what you have done in response to this. There has been no resignation, no regret expressed over the lathi-charge, and there has been no response to the issues raised by Rahul Gandhi."

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