Buck stops at top echelons of Modi govt in NEET 'scam': Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday hit out at the Modi government over the bureaucratic reshuffle in the National Testing Agency after alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, saying the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the regime.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the National Testing Agency (NTA) was projected to be an autonomous body, but in reality was made to serve the "devious interests" of the BJP/RSS.

"In the NEET Scam, the buck stops at the doorstep of the top echelons of the Modi Government. Shuffling the bureaucrats is no solution to the endemic problem in the Education system rotted by the BJP," he said in a post on X.

For students to get justice, Modi government must be held accountable, he said.

The Centre on Saturday had shunted out NTA's Director General Subodh Singh and handed over the probe into the irregularities in medical entrance exam NEET-UG to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Education Ministry has also set up a seven-member panel headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to review the agency's functioning and recommend exam reforms.

It also postponed the NEET-PG entrance, the fourth entrance exam to be impacted in recent days.

Kharge said the NEET-PG Exam has been postponed and in all four examinations have been either cancelled or postponed in the past 10 days.

"Paper Leaks, Corruption, Irregularities and Education Mafia has infiltrated our Education system," he alleged.

"This belated whitewashing exercise is of no consequence as countless youth continue to suffer," Kharge said.

Slamming the postponement of the NEET PG exam, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi charged that PM Narendra Modi is "helpless" before the paper leak racket and "education mafia".

"Now NEET PG has been postponed. This is another unfortunate example of the ruined education system under Narendra Modi's rule. In BJP rule, students are not forced to study to save their careers, but are forced to fight with the government to save their future.Now it is clear, after silently watching the spectacle every time, Modi is helpless before the paper leak racket and Education Mafia," he said in a post in Hindi on X.

"Narendra Modi's incompetent government is the biggest threat to the future of students and we must save the future of the country from it," he added.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also attacked the Modi government over the alleged irregularities in national competitive exams, including the NEET-UG, alleging that it has handed over the entire education system to the "mafia" and the "corrupt".

In a post on X, she the NEET-UG question paper was "leaked" while the NEET-PG, UGC-NET and CSIR-NET exams were "cancelled".

Earlier, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "No day is complete without news of cancellation of an exam because of the total incompetence of the non- biological PM and the people around him".