The Opposition Congress on Thursday announced a nationwide campaign from June 30 to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, and also seek a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s examination system.
The first phase of this 40-day campaign titled ‘Shatron Ki Jung’ (Students’ Voice) will culminate in a ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march on August 9, the party leader said.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress leader Satej Patel alleged that repeated irregularities in examinations have created a “huge trust deficit” among students and threatened the future of thousands of aspirants.
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Patil, a legislator from Maharashtra, said nearly 23 lakh students appeared for NEET after years of preparation, but only about 2 lakh would eventually secure admission to medicine, dentistry, AYUSH and allied courses.
“They are talking about running a state with a population of 130 crore people, but they cannot even conduct a test properly for 23,000 students. It is a boring test, and they are failing to conduct it properly,” the former Maharashtra minister said.
He said that the issue is not just about leaking papers or re-exams, but that it has severely eroded students’ confidence in the system.
“Students’ confidence that they will get grades based on what they have studied has gone away. This confidence has been shattered. This is a huge lack of confidence among the youth of the entire country,” he said.
The party announced a national awareness campaign covering 28 cities, targeting students, job aspirants, training centers, university campuses and libraries.
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Under the program, congressional leaders will conduct flyer drives, street corner meetings and campus outreach activities starting June 30.
Patel claimed that paper leaks had become a recurring phenomenon and accused the government of failing to hold the masterminds accountable.
Referring to the controversy surrounding NEET, he claimed that while middlemen were arrested in earlier cases, the larger network behind the exam scams remained untouched.
Congress also called for an investigation into the operation of the National Testing Agency (NTA), inspection processes, paper preparation mechanisms, printing and transportation systems, digital infrastructure and vendor contracts.
Patel also alleged a nexus involving training institutes and examination leakage networks.
“Where did the leaked paper come from? Who got it first? This indicates a connection. News came out about a leaked paper and advertisements appeared the next day asking students to rejoin classes in case of re-testing. This connection between training classes and the system must be broken,” he said.
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He called on Congress leader Pradhan to accept responsibility for the alleged failures and step down from his post.
The party also called for setting a fixed annual calendar for exams and employment, with exam dates, results, and appointments determined in advance.
As part of the campaign, the Congress will hold demonstrations outside district collectors’ offices in 28 cities on August 1, concluding the first phase with the ‘Delhi Chalo’ rally on August 9.
In response to a question about student suicide, Patel said Congress would consider proposals to create advisory mechanisms to support students and help restore their confidence.
He said the immediate aim of the campaign was to reassure students that their concerns were being heard and to put pressure on the government to address systemic shortcomings in the examination process.
