The Prime Minister wants the country’s youth to continue making rolls and frying pakoras, says Rahul Gandhi

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. File | Photo credit: ANI

Looking at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (June 7, 2026) released a video of his interaction with Sarthak Siddhant, an 18-year-old student who flagged irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education (OSMCBSE) vendor selection process and said the PMMBSE System of Secondary Education (OS) wanted the country’s youth to continue to “make discs and fry pakoras”.

“Mr. Sarthak is 18 years old, but in terms of thinking, courage and principles, he is second to none,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post in Hindi that accompanied the video on social media platform X. He named ethical hacker Nisarg Adhikary, who also uncovered vulnerabilities in CBSE’s OSM country portal, which the mainstream media and Mr. G. duo houses said investigative journalists could not. “They exposed the collusion between CBSE and COEMPT (an edtech company) to the nation,” he said. Lauding Mr. Sidhant for being “faster and sharper” than the Central Bureau of Investigation, he said this victory for the youth was in the truest sense a defeat for the government.

“Mr. Modi ji wants our youth to make rolls and fry pakoras without asking questions or opening their eyes. But these young men asked questions and also found answers. This is the real strength of India’s youth, inquisitive, aware and informed. And remember, the future of the country will not be misled,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

The eight-minute video is of Mr Gandhi’s meeting with Mr Sidhant and his family last week. The video begins with Mr Gandhi asking the young man whether he thinks he has done a “good thing” or a “bad thing”. Mr Sidhant, who had earlier made a presentation before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Education, responded that he had done what a “concerned citizen” should do and explained how Mr Adhikari and he had been investigating the matter.

Published – 07 Jun 2026 20:53 IST