The Narendra Modi government 3.0 faces a battle-ready and rejuvenated Opposition as the first session of the new Lok Sabha begins this week. While the opening day of the new session on Monday would mostly be about the newly elected MPs taking oath, Wednesday is when the real action gets underway – election of the Lok Sabha Speaker followed by an imminent showdown over the postponement and cancellation of entrance exams over paper leak and other alleged irregularities.
Be it the protests over the conduct of NEET-UG 2024 or the cancellation of UGC-NET 2024, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has been the focus of the ire, forcing the government to replace its chief. With the NEET-PG exam being postponed at the eleventh hour, protests by medical aspirants have intensified as has the Opposition strategy to corner the government in Parliament.
Top government sources indicated that all the facts will be laid there before the people of the country. “We are ready to answer all questions and put all the facts for the people to see. There is nothing for us to hide. Whether we need to speak on the floor of Parliament will depend on the permission and decision of the chair,” a top official told News18.
The gravity of the situation can be assessed from the fact that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan cancelled his visit to Delhi University to attend an International Yoga Day event on June 21.
Hoping to capitalize on the students’ anger and giving a glimpse of what’s to come in Parliament, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has released a video message, promising students to fight for them “from the streets to the Parliament”.
The CPI(M) Politburo issued a statement on Sunday, demanding Pradhan’s sacking over “sinister developments”. “…the entire government is accountable, particularly the HRD (education) Minister. He must resign,” read the statement.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) leader Sharad Pawar called the last-minute postponement of NEET-PG 2024 a “failure” of the central government. DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin called it a “scam”. Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party have also held huddles to discuss their strategies.
BJP sources say the Treasury Benches would rely on a three-pronged strategy to counter the Opposition in the Lok Sabha – Acknowledgement, Accountability, Attack.
ACKNOWLEDGE
“The Centre doesn’t want to come across as insensitive at any point. We understand lives and futures of young minds are involved. After the Speaker’s election and the President’s address, when discussion begins, we will address the issue at hand without running away,” said a senior parliamentarian, adding that the strategy would be fine-tuned at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting.
The MP added that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will likely address the House reiterating what he said earlier about the integrity of the exams being “compromised”.
Another Rajya Sabha MP cited the example of Rajasthan where the BJP has been at the forefront for nearly five years in protest against paper leaks in the state, mounting pressure on then chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Rajasthan education minister Govind Singh Dotasra. The MP added that the BJP is aware of how sensitive the issue is and hence its first step would way to acknowledge the problem. “The Centre will be doing exactly that,” he said.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The Centre’s decision to shunt out Subodh Kumar Singh as the head of the National Testing Agency has already conveyed it won’t shy away from difficult decisions to fix accountability. Singh has been put on ‘compulsory wait’ in the Department of Personnel and Training. Retired 1985 batch officer Pradeep Singh Karola has been appointed in his place till a regular chief is appointed or until further orders. Karola’s first order of business, sources said, will be to work out the new dates for cancelled and postponed exams.
Simultaneously, the government handed over the probe into the alleged irregularities, including paper leaks, in the NEET-UG exam to the CBI on Saturday. The CBI is also probing the alleged leaks that led to the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam.
“The government has nothing to hide. We have not just acknowledged that the integrity of the examination was compromised but have also taken definitive actions. To the best of my understanding, the CBI has already registered an FIR and investigation is underway. We hope to bring the culprits to book very soon. If the Opposition continues to play politics over this issue, the government will cite how it has quickly fixed the problem,” said a senior BJP MP.
Government sources added that it will strongly showcase how it has “quickly notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 keeping students welfare in mind”.
“There are two things that the government has done taking into account the seriousness of the issue. This is the only government which has actually brought a bill to stop exam paper leaks, and the rules will be notified soon. Secondly, we will also keep stringent watch again on the working of the coaching centres. Anyone who has done anything wrong will not be spared,” said a top government official.
The stringent law, which was passed this February, is aimed at preventing paper leaks and cheating. Among its provisions is minimum jail term of three years for those found guilty of leaking a paper or tampering with answer sheets. The legislation allows for this punishment to be extended to five years with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. All offences under the Act will be cognisable and non-bailable.
Another crucial clause in the law is that if examination service providers come across a possible offence but do not report it, they can be fined up to Rs 1 crore.
“The government will also highlight the speedy actions if the Opposition chooses a war of words on the floor instead of constructive solutions,” the source added.
Among those actions is the setting up of a high-level committee to look into the functioning and proposed reforms for the National Testing Agency. The committee is expected to come up with its report within two months, towards the last week of August.
“The ministry won’t micro-manage the committee. They are acclaimed people. They will work on their own and give a report in two months. The committee will only take a call on whether the paper-and-pen mode can continue. There are pros and cons to both offline and computer-based test formats. We will look at the findings and decide,” a source aware of the development told News18.
ATTACK
“If push comes to shove, the Treasury Benches will give it back and better,” said the government source quoted above. The BJP won’t be brazen about the issue, but won’t hesitate to attack the Opposition either, the source said.
The BJP has already displayed its battle readiness in countering the Opposition on the choice of pro-tem Speaker. When Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that Kodikunnil Suresh of the grand old party should have been the pro-tem given his seniority of eight terms, BJP leaders like Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi and party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala hit back hard. They asked Jairam Ramesh to make K Suresh the Leader of Opposition instead. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju retweeted both Trivedi’s and Poonawala’s X posts.
BJP sources said that if the Congress chooses to play to the gallery, the Treasury Benches will attack Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra directly for their “silence” over consecutive paper leaks during the Congress rule in Rajasthan.
And then there is Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha’s allegation of the involvement of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s aide in the alleged paper leaks and discrepancies in NEET-UG. The Economic Offences Wing of the Bihar Police is now likely to question Pritam Kumar, who was personal secretary to Tejashwi Yadav. “Baat niklegi toh phir door talak jayegi (Now that the issue has been raised, it will be taken to its logical conclusion),” said a BJP Rajya Sabha MP.
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