The Indian National Congress demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence regarding repeated examination paper leaks on May 13, 2026 [4].
The demand follows the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination [3]. The opposition argues that the systemic failure of national testing centers undermines the meritocracy of the Indian education system and affects millions of aspiring students.
Congress leaders, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das, called for immediate action against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Kumar said, "We demand that the Prime Minister address the NEET-UG paper leak and hold the education minister accountable" [1].
Protests erupted across several states to voice these demands. In Hyderabad, Telangana, members of the Congress party burned effigies of the education minister. Similar demonstrations were held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where party officials accused the central government of negligence.
Bhakta Charan Das said, "Those in power are complicit" [5]. Das and other party officials alleged that the government has failed to secure the integrity of high-stakes testing over the last decade.
To support these claims, a Congress spokesperson said that 89 papers have been leaked over the past 10 years [2]. The party further alleged that re-examinations have been conducted 48 times during that same period [2].
The party's leadership continues to push for Pradhan's resignation, suggesting that the frequency of these leaks indicates a deeper institutional crisis within the ministry. They argue that the Prime Minister's lack of a public statement on the matter suggests a lack of accountability at the highest level of government.
“Those in power are complicit.”
The escalation of protests from New Delhi to regional hubs like Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar indicates a coordinated effort by the opposition to frame examination security as a national governance failure. By citing a decade-long pattern of 89 leaks, the Congress party is attempting to shift the narrative from a single administrative error in the NEET-UG 2026 exam to a systemic critique of the current administration's competence in managing public infrastructure and education.
