Chandigarh, Aug 3 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday launched a blistering attack on the BJP-led Centre over the paper leak issue, alleging the Union government shattered the aspirations of crores of students, while those seeking justice were met with tear gas shells, pellet guns and police action instead of accountability.
Mann was speaking in the Punjab Assembly on the first day of the session while winding up a debate on the condemnation resolution against the alleged paper leaks in the country.
He said the Punjab government would forward the resolution to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Union Ministry of Education and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), urging the Centre to take stringent measures to prevent paper leaks and restore the credibility of the country’s education system.
Mann, however, reiterated that not even a single incident of paper leak has taken place in Punjab during the last more than four years of his government.
Taking on the Centre, Mann said, “Those who have been claiming to make the country a ‘Vishwaguru’ have made a mockery of the education system by failing to check the repeated paper leaks across the country.” Paper leaks or, in other words, the selling of examination papers shatter the dreams of the aspirants. A reflection of this is that 22 candidates of the NEET examination committed suicide. From 2014, ever since the BJP regime assumed charge of office, 93 paper leaks have taken place in the country, he claimed.
The number of such paper leaks between 2019 and 2024 was 65 and the maximum number of such leaks took place in the BJP-led governments in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and others, he claimed.
The prime minister, who used to give tips to students about appearing in examinations, has failed to check the paper leaks, he alleged.
Speaking about the recent youth protests in Delhi, Mann said the students forced the prime minister to take the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Mann strongly condemned police action against the protesters, saying tear gas and pellet guns were used against them, which is regrettable.
“Pellet guns are banned across the world, but the Union government has mercilessly used them against innocent students. Instead of pledging to conduct the examinations fairly, the prime minister is promising fast-track courts to mislead the people.
It is a mockery of the system that the Union government is roping in defence services for the smooth execution of the examinations, he said.
Mann said students who prepare for such coveted examinations are the hope of their families. However, when such papers are sold to affluent people in the name of paper leaks, their dreams are shattered, he said.
Such paper leaks put a question mark on the education system of the country and that is why the degrees of the country have no value abroad. Instead of fixing accountability, the central government continues to shield those responsible for this mess, he alleged.
The prime minister teaches students how to prepare for examinations but he has never taught the institutions under his government how to conduct examinations with transparency, fairness and security, said Mann while taking a dig at Modi.
On the paper leaks, Mann stated that a CBI inquiry is ordered every time but nobody is punished.
Even now, the prime minister is saying that the matter will be decided in fast-track courts. That means paper leaks will continue, and only the cases will be decided later, said Mann.
Slamming the Congress for remaining absent from the House during the debate, Mann said almost every member of the House supported the resolution but the Congress chose to boycott the debate.
“When I was speaking in the Vidhan Sabha today, the opposition benches were lying empty. This is a glimpse of 2027,” he further said while taking a jibe at the Congress. PTI CHS KSS KSS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.