A day after the UGC-NET was cancelled, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue, claiming he has “psychologically collapsed” after the Lok Sabha election. At a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, the Congress MP said: “The silence (on the examination issue) is because the prime minister is crippled. The Prime Minister’s main agenda is the Speaker. He is not bothered about NEET, or all these things.” “The Prime Minister, if I may say so, is psychologically broken, psychologically collapsed. Knowing his personality, he will struggle to run a government like this. His idea of running a government is to frighten people, to make people not speak. Now what has happened is that people are not scared of him,” he said, pointing to a slipper thrown at the PM’s car in Varanasi. What was earlier a 56-inch chest has now shrunk to 30-32 inches, said Rahul. “If right now, we had a Vajpayee ji or Manmohan ji, they might have survived what they were faced with. Because there was humility, there was conciliation and respect. But Narendra Modi doesn’t believe in these things. And now suddenly he has found that earlier only Congress people were not scared of him, but now no one is. Psychologically it is almost a fatal blow for the PM, and he will struggle. And now we have a stronger Opposition. It will be interesting and a lot of fun.” Hours after the press conference, Gandhi posted on X: “The throwing of the chappal at Narendra Modi is very condemnable and a lapse in his security. The opposition to the government and its policies should be done in a Gandhiwadi manner.” During the press conference, Gandhi also alleged that there are issues within the BJP and with its parent organisation. Gandhi said that during his Manipur-to-Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, thousands of students complained about paper leaks. “The NEET and UGC-NET papers have been leaked. One has been cancelled. It was being said that Narendra Modi ji stopped the Russia-Ukraine war. Same with the Israel and Gaza war. But for some reason, he can’t stop the paper leaks in the country.” The Rae Bareli MP-elect, who also met a group of NEET aspirants at his residence on Thursday evening, said his party would raise the paper leak issue in Parliament. Gandhi said: “In Madhya Pradesh, Vyapam had happened and now the same is being spread across India. I talk of institutional capture. I spoke of the media and other institutions. The same is happening in educational institutes. The reason for the paper leaks is that all vice-chancellors… The education system has been captured by the BJP and its parent organisation. Till the time this capture is not reversed, paper leaks will continue. The capture has been facilitated by Narendra Modi ji,” said Gandhi. Congress leader doing petty politics: BJP New Delhi: On a day when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a sharp attack on the Centre over the alleged NEET and UGC-NET irregularities, the BJP hit back at the Congress leader, accusing him of politicising the matter at a time when the Centre was looking at it with sensitivity. BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "The government is fully sensitive and alert with regard to the NEET exam. It is also committed to ensure that no student faces any injustice and strict action is taken against those involved. But Rahul Gandhi, who could not pass even with third division in his third attempt and got just 100 seats (in Lok Sabha polls), is trying to declare himself leader of the bright students." BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also said that while paper leaks were "regular" during the Congress-led UPA regime, the Modi government brought reforms and streamlined the examination system. "When the system is moving forward in such a manner, Rahul Gandhi comes and indulges in petty politics on such a serious and sensitive issue of education,” he alleged. —ENS
