New Delhi: Amid the row over the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG exam 2024, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram stressed on Sunday that the central government needs to give up all-India examinations, adding that the right to conduct examinations for medical college admissions must be reverted back to states.
The NEET-UG exam, held on May 5, 2024, has been mired in controversy, with allegations of cheating and impersonation. In an exclusive interview with ANI, P Chidambaram said, "NEET is a scandal and we have been saying this for the last 3-4 years. Tamil Nadu has passed a resolution in the assembly demanding the exemption of the state from NEET. Each state must have the right to conduct its own entrance examination to select students for the colleges run by the state government. When you have an all-India-level examination, these scandals are bound to happen."
Emphasising that this is too large a country with too many candidates writing the examination, he said that the government needs to give up this all-India examination and keep it limited to only central government institutions. "This is too large a country, with too many candidates writing the examination, too many people are interested in exploiting the system... The government needs to give up this all-India examination and keep it limited to only central government institutions and not include states..." he said.
Chidambaram also sought Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation and stated that the latter should take moral responsibility. "Dharmendra Pradhan should resign and take moral responsibility for the system and the leaks in the system," added the Congress MP. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the exam, has faced severe criticism, leading to several protests and legal actions.
The central government, meanwhile, entrusted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the matter. The central agency's investigation has so far resulted in the arrest of over a dozen suspects, each allegedly playing a role in the leak and distribution of the NEET exam papers. Meanwhile, Congress MP P Chidambaram also spoke about the new criminal laws that came into force on July 1.
He claimed that 90-95 per cent of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been cut and pasted, and 95-99 per cent of the Indian Evidence Act has been cut and pasted.
"I have posed somewhere around 40 questions, and none of them are being answered. 90-95 per cent of the IPC and the CrPC have been cut and pasted, and 95-99 per cent of the Indian Evidence Act has been cut and pasted. If the bulk of the law has been cut and pasted, the few additions and deletions that have been made could be done through amendments. Why has every act been rewritten and every section renumbered? This is a mischievous idea that has created utter confusion," he said.
The Congress MP further stated that the Congress' Legal and Human Rights Department is trying to hold a conclave by the end of this month on these issues. "All over India, lawyers are protesting and going on a strike in lower courts in Delhi tomorrow. A DMK lawyers' protest meeting has been scheduled for July 20. Congress' Legal and Human Rights Department is trying to hold a conclave by the end of this month on these issues," he said.
The new criminal laws, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita came into effect on July 1 at midnight. The bills were passed in Parliament during the Winter Session last year. Notably, over 140 MPs were suspended from the Parliament, a point the Opposition has continuously targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party for. These new laws aim to replace the Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.
Congress MP P Chidambaram also reacted to the BJP's allegation against Rahul Gandhi that he 'insulted' the Hindu community during his recent address in the Parliament. "Complete rubbish. The bulk of the people in this country, roughly 80 per cent, are Hindus. But we do not wear the 'Hindu badge' on our collars and cream against minorities. We are Hindus, but we can live with other communities, be they Muslims, Christians, or Sikhs. The BJP's guilt is that it thinks that because it is a Hindu nation, only the Hindu religion should prevail and only the Hindu code should apply. The bulk of the people in the country do not accept this. You saw it after the Lok Sabha polls," Chidambaram said.
He claimed that the BJP campaigns on an explicit 'anti-Muslim' platform. "They campaign on an explicit anti-Muslim platform. How many speeches of the Prime Minister rail against the Muslims? He called them infiltrators; he said they produced more children; he said that Congress would distribute wealth to the Muslims. It was an explicit anti-Muslim platform, which they campaigned on. Despite this, 70 per cent of the voters did not vote for the BJP. What does it show? Be a good Hindu, be a practicing religious Hindu, but do not use Hinduism weapons to target others," he said.
The Congress MP further emphasised that the Congress is not against Hindus or Hinduism and that it wants a secular country. "The guilt is there in the BJP. There are many MPs who do not agree with Mr Modi's position. The Congress says that it is not against Hindus or Hinduism. But we want this country to be a secular one," he said. In his speech in Lok Sabha during the debate on the motion of thanks to President Droupadi Murmu's address, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of preaching and spreading violence and hatred, to which the latter reacted sharply.
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