Priyanka, Venugopal demand responsibility for police crackdown on NEET protesters

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra speaks in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session of Parliament in New Delhi on July 28, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI

Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) demanded responsibility for the police action against students protesting against the NEET-UG paper leak and accused the Center of reacting with force to the democracy movement instead of addressing the concerns of the aspirants.

Participating in a debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractice) Amendment Bill, 2026, Ms Vadra asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to explain who authorized the use of force, including firearms and assault rifles, against protesting students.

“Were they terrorists?” she asked, saying that every lathi strike damaged the government’s credibility more than it hurt the students. Recalling her visit to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Ms Vadra said she met the family of the injured student and said the country’s youth had begun to lose faith in a system where dishonesty seemed to matter more than merit.

Ms Vadra claimed that 152 examination papers had been leaked in the last ten years without a single “paper leak mafia” being punished. It also questioned the government’s education priorities, contrasting public spending on education with the enormous private spending incurred by families preparing students for competitive exams.

‘Heart angle’ jibe

Ms Vadra hit out at the prime minister and said that changing camera angles would not help win over Generation Z. “The prime minister needs to change the angle of his heart, not the angle of the cameras,” she said.

Her remarks briefly sparked rowdy scenes in the House after she made a controversial comment about newly appointed education minister Pralhad Joshi, which drew objections from members of the finance ministry. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Mr Joshi responded before Speaker Om Birla ordered the remarks expunged from the record.

Mr. Venugopal also pressed the government on police action, saying those responsible for attacks on peaceful protesters “must be identified and held accountable because students who are peacefully protesting are not enemies of the state.”

PM needs to change the angle of his heart, not the angle of cameras: Priyanka in Lok Sabha

PM needs to change the angle of his heart, not the angle of cameras: Priyanka in Lok Sabha | Video Credit: The Hindu

“They are citizens of India and the government must be held accountable for treating the country’s young citizens so brutally,” he said.

He added that even opposition leaders faced police excesses during the protests and said the treatment of the opposition leader was witnessed around the world. “In a democracy, you have to listen to everyone’s voice, but the Modi government is not ready to listen,” he said.

Mr. Venugopal began his speech by reading a note left by Ankita Sangale, a 19-year-old NEET aspirant from Maharashtra who committed suicide on July 25 after missing the cut-off by 11 marks, and said the tragedy reflected the immense pressure students faced.

Citing data from the National Crime Records Bureau, he said student suicides had risen from 8,068 in 2014 to 14,488 today. “This is not a statistic, but a state of emergency,” he said, adding that exam failure was now a separate category of suicide, arguing that the problem was no longer limited to one exam but reflected deeper problems in India’s education system.

He questioned an education model where “coaching has become indispensable, students have to go to court, protesters face police violence and degrees no longer guarantee jobs”, calling for structural reforms rather than piecemeal legislative changes.

Published – 28 Jul 2026 18:39 IST