Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately sack Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following a leak of the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper.
The demand highlights a growing political crisis over the integrity of India's medical entrance exams, which determine the professional futures of hundreds of thousands of students.
Gandhi said the leak reflects a BJP-RSS nexus that is damaging the national education system. He said the breach wastes the hard work of approximately 22 lakh NEET aspirants [1]. The Congress leader also criticized the silence of Prime Minister Modi regarding the incident.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed his support for the demand on Saturday, May 16 [2]. Speaking from Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said he backed the call for Pradhan's removal from office in response to the administrative failure surrounding the 2026 exam [2].
The NEET-UG 2026 exam is a critical gateway for students seeking admission to medical colleges across India [3]. The controversy centers on how a high-stakes examination paper could be compromised, leading to calls for systemic reform, and ministerial accountability.
Gandhi linked the failure to a broader ideological influence within the government, suggesting that the current administration is unable or unwilling to protect the meritocratic process of the education system. He said the scale of the leak necessitates a high-level change in leadership to restore public trust in the testing process.
“Rahul Gandhi demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately sack Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.”
The demand for Dharmendra Pradhan's dismissal transforms a technical administrative failure into a high-stakes political battle. By linking the paper leak to a 'BJP-RSS nexus,' the opposition is attempting to frame the exam breach not as an isolated security lapse, but as a symptom of systemic corruption and ideological mismanagement within the central government's education policy.
