New Delhi: Taking a swipe at the prime minister-designate Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said 24 lakh students and their families were destroyed by the 'NEET scam'.
In a post in Hindi in X (formerly Twitter), Gandhi said: "Even before Modi is sworn in as the Prime Minister, the NEET scam has devastated 24 lakh students and their families.”
"Six students from the same centre topped the exam with maximum marks, which is not technically possible. But the government has been denying the possibility of paper leaks. Congress had made a robust plan to deal with this 'paper leak industry' which is being run in collusion with the education mafia and the government machinery. In our manifesto, we pledged to free the students from paper leaks by making a law. I want to assure all the students of the country that I will become your voice in Parliament and strongly raise the issues related to your future. The youth have expressed confidence in INDIA, the bloc will not allow their voice to be suppressed," he posted.
NEET scam refers to the alleged grace marks awarded to more than 1,500 candidates. While the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Saturday that the education ministry has set up a four-member panel to review, it has denied any irregularities.
The NTA also said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
There have been calls from several quarters for a re-exam alleging that the grace marks awarded to make up for the loss of time at six exam centres have led to the inflation of marks and tampered with the chances of other candidates.
These centres are from Meghalaya, Bahadurgarh in Haryana, Dantewada and Balodh in Chhattisgarh, Surat in Gujarat and Chandigarh.
The issue also took a political turn with several parties raising concerns about the authenticity of the national exam for medical courses.
