New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday again demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the NEET exam issue, and asserted that the anger in the country over the matter will “reverberate inside Parliament as well”.
The Opposition party also sought the removal of the National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General and claimed that the BJP government’s attitude towards the ongoing demand for an inquiry into the NEET examination is “irresponsible and insensitive”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that in the last 10 years, the Modi government has ruined the future of crores of youth through paper leaks and rigging.
“Grace Marks was not the only problem in NEET exam. There has been rigging, papers have been leaked, corruption has taken place. The future of 24 lakh students appearing in the NEET examination is at stake due to the actions of the Modi government,” the Congress president said.
A nexus of exam centre and coaching centre has been formed, where the game of “pay money, get paper” is being played, he alleged.
“The Modi government cannot escape its responsibility by placing the responsibility of its actions on the shoulders of NTA. There should be a CBI investigation into the entire NEET scam. If the Modi government is not ready for a CBI inquiry then the Congress party demands a fair inquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court,” Kharge said in a post.
After investigation, the culprits should be given the harshest punishment and lakhs of students should be given compensation to save their year from being wasted, he said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also hit out at the government, saying the “one-third padhan mantri’s” government has tried to wriggle its way out of the simmering NEET controversy and scam.
“It has assured the Supreme Court that grace marks given to 1563 students will be cancelled. But why were the grace marks given in the first place? The primary reason appears to be one physics question in the paper which gave four options. According to the new NCERT Class 12 text book, one of the four was right. But on the basis of an older textbook, another option could also be considered right,” he said.
The students who ticked the latter, in addition to students who lost time due to delays in paper distribution, etc. were given grace marks, Ramesh said.
“It is a pathetic state of affairs, reflecting on both the National Testing Agency and the NCERT,” he said.