Centre says ready to discuss NEET leak, Opposition insists on minister’s exit
3 min readNew DelhiJul 22, 2026 01:21 PM IST
The Opposition is insisting that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan must resign
The government told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that it was ready for a discussion on the NEET-UG paper leak issue, which has sparked nationwide protests, but the Opposition insisted on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. Starting the short face-off between the Treasury and Opposition Benches before the House was adjourned, Congress MP KC Venugopal said, “The entire nation is in pain now… the way in which the government brutally dealt with students protesting against Dharmendra Pradhan.” Speaker Om Birla intervened and said the Opposition will be given a chance to speak during the discussion.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju then got up to speak and said, “The government is ready to discuss the NEET paper leak issue. If a discussion has to happen, it has to be done under a rule… when the discussion has to happen, its duration and under what rule it has to be done… We are ready for a discussion.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav intervened and said, “This issue is not of Congress or SP. It is of the youth. You let them (government) and them (Congress) speak. Has a compromise been reached without letting us speak? Resignation can be taken anytime. But the way you have treated students — hands broken, heads broken. Will you tear the clothes of daughters? Rahul ji and I had to go to the PM’s residence because you didn’t hear us yesterday. If the PM can speak outside, why can’t he speak inside the House.” Speaker Om Birla said all sides want a discussion on the issue and its form could be discussed. He then adjourned the House till 2 pm.
Rahul Gandhi was detained after a sit-in outside PM’s home on Tuesday
Rahul Gandhi’s sit-in outside PM home
This comes a day after Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, held a three-hour sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on Tuesday afternoon. Besides top Congress leaders, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule joined the demonstration. Eventually, Delhi Police forcibly removed Gandhi, his sister and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Yadav and others. They were detained before being released late in the evening.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, whom the government sent to convince Gandhi to end the sit-in, said the Congress leader first demanded a discussion on the NEET paper leak and protests against it in Parliament. The government, Singh said, agreed to this, but then Gandhi added the demand for Pradhan’s resignation.
Taking a cue from the massive protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in the national capital on Monday, the Opposition is going all out to corner the government on the paper leaks issue. Voices in the government, however, have said the demand for the minister’s resignation is “political” and there’s no “succumbing” to it. They have pointed out that the lapses behind the NEET leak have been fixed.
Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More
- Tags:
- CJP Protest
- Dharmendra Pradhan
- Exam paper leak
- NEET UG
Source: Indian Express
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