New Delhi: Recalling his interactions with students, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Monday referred to the medical entrance exam as a "commercial exam" and said that students appearing for NEET alleged that the exam is designed for "rich students and not meritorious students."
Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to a joint sitting of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi targeted the BJP-led government over the paper leak issue and said that there is fear among everyone in the nation.
"NEET students spend years and years preparing for their exams. Their family supports them financially, and emotionally and the truth is that NEET students today do not believe in the exam because they are convinced that the exam is designed for rich people, not meritorious people. I have met several NEET students. Every single one of them tells me that the exam is designed to create a quota for rich people and to create a passage for them into the system and is designed not to help poor students. The students prepare for months and months," Rahul Gandhi said.
"There is fear among, youth, farmers, women and the disabled. In fact not in the whole country there is fear among their own (BJP) party. This is truth and that's why you guys are not shouting now," he said.
He further demanded a separate one-day discussion on the issue in the Parliament.
"We wanted a one day discussion on NEET. It is an important issue. More than two crore students have been affected. Paper leaks have happened on 70 occasions," he said.
The NEET UG examination was conducted by the National Testing Agency on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities in the country and 14 cities abroad with 23 lakh candidates appearing for the examination.
The results were declared on June 4, which immediately caused a hue and cry with aspirants raising multiple issues. An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720 led to widespread protests in the country.
The Supreme Court ruled that the "grace marks" awarded to some students should be scrapped and provided the affected candidates with the option to either take a re-test or retain their original scores, excluding the grace marks.
Meanwhile, amid opposition protests in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla dismissed the allegation of some MPs that the Speaker switched off the mic.
"Outside the House, some MPs level allegations that the Speaker switches off the mic. The control of the mic is not in the hands of the one who sits on the Chair," he said.
