NEET Paper Leak, Anti-Paper Leak Bill

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday pointed out the contrast in Dharmendra Pradhan resigning as Education Minister after a 37-day student protest over the NEET paper leak and the BJP MPs welcoming him to Parliament as if he has “returned after fighting a war with Pakistan”.

Dharmendra Pradhan, who resigned over the weekend, was cheered and welcomed with “Dharmendra Pradhan zindabad” slogans as he arrived in Parliament on Monday.

There were scenes of jubilation as MPs closed in around him, with one MP even putting a traditional cap on the ex-Minister’s head and a shawl across his shoulders, with the MPs throwing their weight behind the leader from Odisha.

“When he entered the Parliament premises after resigning, BJP MPs garlanded him, welcoming him as if he had returned from fighting a war with Pakistan,” Gogoi said during the discussion on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026.

Priyanka Gandhi too took a swipe at the BJP MP. 

“Don’t you think it is shameful? Everyone saw the circumstances under which Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, but yesterday in the Parliament premises, he was welcomed as if he were a superstar,” Priyanka Gandhi said Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had also slammed the reception Pradhan received in the Parliament premises.

In a post in Hindi on X on Monday, he said, “Dharmendra Pradhan is — and will always remain — a symbol of corruption and India’s ruined education system. That very system claimed the lives of 26 children and forced lakhs of youths to take to the streets.” 

Gandhi said Pradhan had to resign not out of moral conscience, but out of fear of the youth’s outrage.

“And today, the BJP is garlanding that very same person in Parliament. This is not an honour; it is a celebration of the ruined futures of lakhs of children. Every student in the country is watching this, and will remember every face involved,” Gandhi had said.

The social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spearheaded student protests that broke out in response to exam paper leaks. Demonstrations that began at the Jantar Mantar protest site in the centre of New Delhi intensified and began spreading to other parts of the country. The protests were called off after Pradhan resigned.  

After the NEET paper leak came to light in Mid-May, the government launched an investigation, cancelled the release of the results and ordered a retake in June, forcing candidates back into intense test preparation. 

The government has not commented on the deaths of the exam candidates. The CJP says 21 students died by suicide in cases it believes were linked to the exam fiasco.