‘Will Rahul Gandhi apologise’: BJP after SC refuses to cancel NEET-UG.

A BJP leader said that while Gandhi used words like “fraud” to criticise NEET-UG, the court clarified that there was no systemic breach in the exam’s integrity. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday of creating distrust in India’s exam system after the alleged NEET-UG paper leak in several places. They questioned whether he would apologise following the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter. On Tuesday, the court rejected the requests to cancel the exam and hold a re-test, stating that there was no proof of a “systemic breach” that compromised the exam’s integrity. The court noted that the leak happened in only a couple of cities. After the verdict, BJP leader and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad criticised the opposition, particularly Gandhi. Prasad said that while Gandhi used words like “fraud” to criticise the entire examination, the court clarified that there was no systemic breach in the exam’s integrity. He asked, “Will Rahul Gandhi apologise…,” claiming that paper leaks were common during Congress-led governments. He also accused Gandhi of damaging India’s reputation globally with his harsh comments about the exam system. Prasad added that Gandhi’s words were disrespectful to Parliament and his position as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Defending the government’s actions regarding the NEET issue, the BJP leader said the investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the candidature of 155 examinees had been cancelled. He emphasised the scale of the exam, noting that over 23.5 lakh students took it at 4,750 centres across 571 cities. He also noted that the Modi government also enacted a strong law to prevent paper leaks. Rejecting Gandhi’s criticism that the 2024 budget was a “kursi bachao budget”, Prasad added that it was not the BJP’s fault if people had repeatedly rejected Gandhi and his party in the elections.  Several Members of Parliament from the INDIA bloc, including Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, LoP Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and many MPs from the Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK, and the Left held a protest on Wednesday against the alleged bias against states governed by the opposition in the Union Budget.