A group of NEET aspirants along with their parents met senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday amidst the ongoing controversy surrounding alleged irregularities in NEET-UG 2024. The students visited Gandhi's residence at 10 AM, Janpath to seek his support in demanding a re-examination of the MBBS qualifying paper.
The meeting took place with students shortly after a press conference of Rahul Gandhi on this issue.
"We had a satisfying meeting with Rahul ji. He understood the pain of our children," one of the student's parent said after the interaction with the Congress leader. "We are demanding a re-examination of the NEET-UG paper. Rahul Sir heard our request and assured us that he will make all possible efforts to get the re-examination conducted in our interest," a student said, PTI reported.
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The aspirants were accompanied by Varun Choudhary, president of Congress' student wing National Students' Union of India (NSUI), who orchestrated the meeting.
The NEET-UG aspirants have been demanding a fresh examination due to reports of irregularities and paper leaks at various test centres in Bihar and Gujarat.
The students have demanded that a new examination be conducted by an agency other than the National Testing Agency (NTA), questioning its capability to conduct such exams following the cancellation of another exam, UGC-NET. This exam was cancelled by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday due to concerns about the integrity of the process.
BJP And RSS Have Control Over Educational Institutions: Rahul Gandhi
Hitting out at the Centre over the alleged irregularities, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and RSS have control over educational institutions which is the main reason for paper leaks. He also highlighted that paper leaks will not stop unless it is reversed.
"It was being said Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped the Ukraine-Russia War and Israel-Gaza war, but he is either not able to stop exam paper leaks or doesn't want to," Gandhi said. He stated that Modi has "psychologically collapsed" post-election and in this way, he wouldn't be able to run the government.
Gandhi outlined that the Opposition would raise the issue of exam paper leaks in Parliament, emphasising that they would pressurise the government to take stringent action against those responsible.