Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, alleging that Modi is silent on the NEET-UG paper leak due to being "crippled," referring to the BJP's reliance on its allies. Gandhi claimed that Modi's main focus is the election of the Lok Sabha Speaker.
At a press conference addressing irregularities in NEET and the cancellation of UGC-NET, Gandhi asserted that Modi has "psychologically collapsed" post-election and will struggle to govern effectively.
When questioned about the government's silence after accusations of paper leaks, Gandhi responded, "Silence is because the PM is crippled. The PM's main agenda, right now, is the election of the Speaker. He is bothered about his government and Speaker... The PM has psychologically collapsed and, knowing his personality, he will struggle to run a government like this".
Gandhi further said that Modi is governing through fear, stating, "But now people are not scared of him. You saw the other day, in Varanasi, someone threw a 'chappal' at his car. Before the elections, if someone wanted to hit him, there was fear, now that fear has ended. There are internal problems too, there are problems in their party, there are issues in their parent organisation".
He further mocked PM Modi, saying, "The Opposition demolished the 'concept of Narendra Modi'. Now no one is afraid of him. People ridicule him... The chest which was earlier 56 inches, now I cannot give the number, but it has become 30-32 (inches)."
Gandhi stated that the Opposition would raise the issue of exam paper leaks in Parliament.
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BJP Reacts
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's statements, the saffron camp hit back at the Congress party stating that the Congress leader has nothing to do with the future of lakhs of the students.
"Rahul Gandhi has nothing to do with the future of lakhs of students, he just wants to play his politics on this topic. In Rajasthan, the paper leak happened but Rahul Gandhi did not utter a word on it," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.
"Govt is fully alert and sensitive over NEET exam. Govt is determined, and won't let any injustice happen to lakhs of students...strict action will be taken against those who are responsible for this," he added.
The NEET scandal has sparked a major controversy, with the matter now before the Supreme Court. On Wednesday night, the Union Education Ministry cancelled the UGC-NET following concerns that the exam's integrity was compromised and referred the issue to the CBI for investigation.