New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) The Opposition, led by the Congress, lashed out at the former Union Education Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dharmendra Pradhan for claiming that some people had attempted to mislead members of Gen Z during protests over NEET paper leak issue, asking him to instead “self-introspect” the mistakes made during his tenure.
Speaking during a programme held at the Gangadhar Meher University in Sambalpur on Saturday, Pradhan said: “I believe that some people tried to mislead our Gen Z.”
Reacting to the remark, Congress MP Manoj Kumar said: “I want to ask Dharmendra Pradhan, was the paper leak confirmed or not? Did the 20–22 lakh students who appeared for the examination suffer or not? Did dozens of students die by suicide or not? Who misled them?
Talking to IANS, he said that Pradhan should understand that the students are the future of the nation and that “they are totally aware about the happenings in the country and are not misled”.
Referring to the Jharkhand students’ agitation, the Congress leader said: “You (Centre) should see how the administration is cooperating with the students in Jharkhand. Multiple rounds of talks have already taken place with the government there. Why did the Centre not do that here (in Delhi)?”
Congress MP Manish Tewari asked Dharmendra Pradhan to do “self-introspection in order to realise why such a big student movement took place in the country”.
“He should think about the mistakes he made during his tenure as the Education Minister of the country? What were the shortcomings? The NEET paper leak became a reflection of the fact that India’s education system has become completely helpless. So, these are serious issues on which they need to carefully contemplate,” he told IANS.
CPI-M MP V. Sivadasan also said that the former Education Minister’s understanding is “completely wrong”.
“He lost his position because of the struggle of the student community. The students have raised a genuine demand. Because of this government’s policies, examination question papers were leaked, and more than 50 re-examinations were conducted,” he stated.
CPI-M leader Hannan Mollah maintained that students were not provoked by anyone.
“Dharmendra Pradhan is responsible for the student suicides and for destroying the futures of many others. He was forced to resign by the public,” he told IANS.
Addressing reporters, Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut referred to the BJP-led Centre and Pradhan, saying “If Gen Z was provoked, then you are the ones who provoked them. (The protest) is a result of the way you have run the Education Ministry, NEET paper leaks happened, exams were repeatedly postponed, so you are responsible for all this.”
Adding to the critique, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said: “I thought that after the resignation, he (Pradhan) would have come to his senses, but he still seems to be living in another world.”
“During your (Pradhan’s) tenure as Education Minister, there was commercialization. Question papers were leaked after taking money. During your tenure, you completely undermined the independence of the education system and brought it under RSS influence. I just want to say that you should have resigned much earlier,” he remarked while speaking to IANS.
–IANS
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