NSUI, NEET aspirants protest against exam irregularities at Jantar Mantar

Anshita Mehra

New Delhi, June 24

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, and NEET aspirants staged a protest, ‘Chhatra Sansad Gherao’, at Jantar Mantar on Monday. The demonstration was fuelled by outrage over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam and the abrupt cancellation of the UGC-NET exam.

Coinciding with the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha session, where Opposition members raised the issue, the protest saw students marching towards the Parliament building to amplify their demands. However, the Delhi Police, citing the lack of prior permission for the march, erected barricades and deployed heavy security, including paramilitary forces, to prevent the protesters from reaching Parliament. The situation escalated when students attempted to climb over the barricades, leading to several detentions.

NSUI national president Varun Choudhary demanded swift action from Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

“We call for the conduction of RENEET (Re-conduct NEET) and the dissolution of the NTA (National Testing Agency) to ensure transparency and fairness in the examination process. If our demands are not met promptly, we will escalate our protests on a national scale. We will fight for NEET students all over India under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” Choudhary stated. He also criticised PM Narendra Modi for neglecting student issues post-election.

Protesters carried placards with messages such as “Don’t play with the future of the students”, “Paper leak pe karwai ho”, “NTA pe ban lage”, “NTA Ban to stop corruption in exams”, “Stop mental torture RENEET”, and “NSUI demands for RENEET”.

“Rampant corruption and frequent leaks of exam in the country are unacceptable,” stated Amina, a protester.

Another protester said, “I came here to protest because of the unfairness of the results. It’s impossible for 719 marks to be common. Usually, there are two-three toppers, but this time 63 students in six centres scored 720 marks.”