The debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, which continued until late in the day, saw the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) field some of its younger MPs to defend the government, including Bansuri Swaraj, Tejasvi Surya, Shrikant Shinde and others. The speeches of NDA MPs were peppered with phrases such as ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) and ‘delulu’ (delusional) as the ruling coalition sought to reconnect with GenZ, who led protests at the national capital’s Jantar Mantar and elsewhere against the leakage of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) paper.
The debate on the Bill ended the week-long logjam in Parliament. Union minister Jitendra Singh, who introduced the Bill in the LS on Monday, described it as a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to safeguarding the welfare of students and youth. He said incidents of paper leaks had occurred in various states ruled by different parties. “The anti-paper leak Bill is a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to safeguard the welfare of students and youth,” he said.
The government introduced the Bill in the LS on Monday, days after student protests over the Neet fiasco led to Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as education minister. The Bill seeks to provide for stricter punishment of up to 10 years in jail and a higher fine of ~50 lakh for those involved in paper leaks.
In her 29-minute speech, Congress’ Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra referred to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Instagram posts following the protests. She said the PM should change his “dil ka angle” instead of camera angles if he wanted to win over GenZ. She slammed the government over the alleged use of teargas and batons against students. “Why was it necessary to fire teargas shells at students, to rain lathis on them? Why was it necessary to humiliate young girls by tearing their clothes and to have them beaten mercilessly? Why was it necessary to fire pellet guns and AK-47s at the country’s youth? Are they terrorists?” the Congress general secretary asked.
She said Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Modi would have to answer who gave the order to attack young protesters with pellet guns.
She said the government had weakened sectors that generate employment and that the country’s examination system had completely failed. She said the government needed to move beyond the existing system and take concrete steps to check paper leaks. “But unfortunately, the Modi government is unable to understand this. The government still believes that their boat will cross the seas with the help of PR and pet media.”
There was a ruckus and brief disruption in the House over her comments on the new education minister, Pralhad Joshi. She also took a swipe at the government over allegations of theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. She criticised BJP MPs for welcoming Pradhan on the Parliament premises after his resignation as if a “superstar” had arrived.
In the LS, MPs of NDA constituents, including the Telugu Desam Party and Shiv Sena, asked the government to conduct the Neet (Undergraduate) examination multiple times a year instead of once annually. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Dayanidhi Maran reiterated his party’s demand for scrapping Neet. The former Union minister said Neet was designed against first-generation learners and students from state boards while promoting coaching centres. He said the anti-paper leak Bill failed to address the core issue — Neet. He said around 2.2 million students appear for Neet annually, about 1.2 million qualify, but there are only around 139,000 undergraduate medical seats.
Referring to reports that the PM’s Facebook post on paper leaks was briefly removed before being restored, Maran said the government had summoned Meta after the incident. BJP MP Anurag Thakur recounted the number of examination paper leaks during the Congress-led UPA government and the Samajwadi Party’s rule in Uttar Pradesh.
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