India, July 22 -- The Congress on Wednesday hit back at Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his criticism of Rahul Gandhi, saying the BJP leader is "insensitive, incompetent, inveterate liar" and that there will be a proper accounting of "Mantri Pradhan's abysmal record" as minister soon. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that at a time when Pradhan has disappointed the aspirations of millions of students, he refuses to resign and instead continues to demonstrate his unchecked arrogance and pettiness through social media posts. Ramesh's remarks came after Pradhan asserted on Tuesday that the government is committed to discussing issues related to the NEET and addressing every genuine concern of youngsters on the floor of Parliament. Pradhan also slammed Gandhi for staging a dharna outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence and accused him of exploiting students as "political tools" to "manufacture" disruption during the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Hitting back at Pradhan, Ramesh said, "Mantri Pradhan is an indifferent, insensitive, incompetent, and inveterate liar like the Pradhan Mantri. At a time when he has disappointed the aspirations of millions of students, he refuses to resign and instead continues to demonstrate his unchecked arrogance and pettiness through social media posts." The fact is that the call for Pradhan's resignation is not premised on one issue but a whole host of failures and corruption that has characterised his tenure as Union Minister of Education, Ramesh alleged. Citing examples of corruption, Ramesh said the continuous failure of the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Pradhan's watch - which includes the multiple paper leaks and paper cancellations of 2024, and the NEET-UG and UGC-NET Sociology paper leak in 2026. "The Minister's response has been one of arrogance and petty politics, including official denials that any paper leak took place, and a refusal to acknowledge the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education to strengthen the NTA because it has members of the Opposition in it," the Congress leader said. Ramesh also cited alleged corruption in the procurement of the On Screen Marking System (OSM) for the CBSE's Grade 12 Board Examinations. A company which has a known track record of failure was awarded the contract after the CBSE revised the tender three times with modifications that benefited COEMPT, Ramesh claimed. "It took an 18-year-old CBSE student himself to bring this scandal to light. The Government appointed a one-member commission to investigate the scandal - and though the commission's deadline of one month has passed, there is no update on what this panel has found," he said. Ramesh said the appointment of Vice Chancellors was solely based on their political affiliation and the implicit green signal from the Ministry to commit acts of corruption.
Students and faculty from many of India's premier institutions - Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Allahabad University - have credibly accused their institutional leadership of corruption and a dictatorial attitude, he said. Faculty appointments are reportedly being sold to the highest bidder, with the 'price' starting at Rs. 30 lakh, Ramesh alleged. At least two Central Universities - North Eastern Hill University in Shillong and Tezpur University in Assam - have witnessed such vociferous protests against their Vice Chancellors that they have had to leave campus and operate remotely, he said. These are all persons that have been handpicked by "Mantri Pradhan" and Pradhan Mantri to oversee the gutting of India's higher education system, Ramesh said. He further alleged that there was abundant corruption in other autonomous bodies and institutions of the Ministry. There has been a bribery scandal in the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) which has led to the filing of a CBI chargesheet against a Professor at JNU, who was recruited by this regime's favourite Vice Chancellor and then appointed by the very same VC to the NAAC as well, he said. The CBI has also filed a chargesheet alleging corruption against the Chancellor of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who was also previously appointed as Chairman of the University Grants Commission by the Modi Government, Ramesh said.
The Indian Council for Historical Research has also been mired in reports of financial irregularities, he added. "This is the tip of the iceberg. There will be a proper accounting of Mantri Pradhan's abysmal record as Minister soon," Ramesh said. On Tuesday Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and several other senior leaders sat on a dharna outside the prime minister's residence here and demanded Pradhan's resignation over the police action against students protesting on the NEET paper-leak issue. In a post on X, Pradhan said, "LoP Shri @RahulGandhi and @INCIndia continue to shamelessly exploit students as political tools to manufacture disruption during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. They chose to stage a dharna outside the Hon'ble Prime Minister's residence, causing inconvenience to the public and disregarding established security protocols." "Even after the Government conveyed its readiness for a comprehensive discussion, the Congress chose political spectacle over democratic debate. Their objective was never solutions for students, it was disruption for political headlines. For Rahul Gandhi, this is not about students. This is about manufacturing confrontation after every genuine avenue for discussion has been opened," he said.
The education minister, who is at the centre of the controversy, said the students of India deserve far better than being treated as "props in a political campaign". "Our government remains 100 pc committed to discussing NEET and addressing every genuine concern of our youth on the floor of the House. The students of India deserve far better than being treated as props in a political campaign. They deserve certainty over chaos, solutions over slogans and responsibility over disruption. "We owe our students more than outrage. We owe them answers, reforms and accountability. That is exactly what our government remains committed to delivering," Pradhan said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.