NEET row: PM Modi must apologise, Dharmendra Pradhan has to be sacked, says Rahul Gandhi

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the removal of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak controversy, and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for what he described as the government's actions against students and the future of the country.

After meeting students who were on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar against NEET paper leak issue, Gandhi held a press conference and said students have three "non-negotiable" demands.

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"The first demand is that the Education Minister, who is corrupt, incompetent, and unfit for the role, must be removed from office”

"There is some talk going on. These days, we receive information from within the government. There is discussion in PM Modi's Cabinet that the solution is to move Dharmendra Pradhan from the Education Ministry to some other ministry. This is not acceptable to the students of India…Dharmendra Pradhan must be sacked. Period."

Listing his second demand, Gandhi said those responsible for injuring young protesters, including the organisers and officials involved in implementing the action, must be held accountable and punished.

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"This young lady is injured. Yesterday I showed you a young man who has been shot in the eye, and there are thousands and thousands of youngsters who have had lathis break their legs, lathis break their heads, pellets in their bodies. The people who have done this, the organisers and the implementers, need to be punished and made accountable. And the third thing is the leader of this entire machinery that is doing this, PM Narendra Modi, has to apologise for what he has done to the students and the future of this country..."


As his third demand, Gandhi said, "the leader of the entire machinery behind this, Mr. Narendra Modi, has to apologise for what he has done to the students and to the future of this country."

Further attacking the governement, Gandhi said, "This is the system that is attacking them (students and youth). I told them inside. I said, do not worry. Do not worry. No amount of strength of the entire Indian government, every single person in the Indian government, cannot move you from there (protest site)."

He added, "Let them (government) do whatever they want. If they want to stop, if they want to threaten, they can do anything... We are not going to step back... They are the future of India. No one can fight them. Narendra Modi is India's past; the past can never fight the future."