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New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI): The Congress on Wednesday hit back at Union minister J P Nadda for his attack on Rahul Gandhi, saying the former BJP chief's press conference was an unending series of "what-aboutery" and a sure sign of the ruling regime's increasing desperation.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said Nadda should have gone beyond "juvenile finger-pointing" at the press conference by first acknowledging the "failures" of the "Pradhan Mantri and the Mantri Pradhan".

"The Union Health Minister and former BJP President J P Nadda's late evening press conference to counter Rahul Gandhi's sharp and pointed exposure of the Modi government is a sure sign of the regime's increasing desperation," Ramesh said in a post on X.

"The whole press conference was an unending series of 'what-aboutery'. Mr Nadda must go beyond such juvenile finger-pointing to first acknowledge the uniquely spectacular nature of the Mantri Pradhan's and Pradhan Mantri's failures. Aap chronology samajhiye...," he added.

Ramesh said when students took to the streets to protest against alleged paper leaks and the BJP-led Centre's education policies, "the Pradhan Mantri and his sidekick unleashed unprecedented brutality on the student protestors -- using lathicharges, water cannons, tear gas, and reportedly even pellet guns and shock batons".

"The NEET-UG 2026 paper leak is merely a symptom. The malaise is much deeper. The anger of our students is directed to the Mantri Pradhan's general incompetence, the Modi government's abysmal education policies, and the Pradhan Mantri's arrogance," the Congress leader said.

Congress MP Pawan Khera said a strange thing was witnessed -- the health minister spoke about issues concerning the education minister and the prime minister did not speak about anything. But this has been a speciality of this government, he added.

"The prime minister, his silence, his support to a corrupt minister are also mind-boggling.

"We thought Naddaji will come and announce the resignation of (Education Minister) Dharmendra Pradhan, but that did not happen. Instead, Naddaji is accusing the opposition and Rahul Gandhi of politicising it," Khera told PTI Videos, adding that the Centre cannot expect them to keep silent after it used tear gas, lathis and pellets on students.

"We are not the kind of domesticated opposition, your obedient opposition that you want. You can go and get that opposition elsewhere. You know which parties I am talking about. Ask them to do their jugalbandi with those political parties, not the Congress party, not Rahul Gandhi," he said, adding that the government is not talking about the real issue of paper leaks.

Nadda earlier accused Gandhi of playing politics over the NEET paper "leak" and urged the opposition to allow an "intensive" discussion on the issue in Parliament to find a "permanent solution", instead of indulging in a blame game.

Addressing a press conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters here, Nadda said the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership is a "responsible and responsive government" and it is very serious on this issue.

Explaining the chronology in his post, Ramesh said the National Testing Agency (NTA) was specifically set up by the Modi government to conduct examinations.

"The Modi government intentionally created a centralised system of examinations administered by the NTA and forced universities and states to adopt it. An existing system was destroyed so that the NTA can be born.

"The NTA then consistently proved itself to be fully compromised and wholly inadequate to the task. Since its inception, it has presided over at least 9 instances of paper leaks -- including in 2024 when the NTA was forced to cancel a whole host of examinations due to irregularities," the former Union minister claimed.

"After the spectacular failure of 2024, the Mantri Pradhan promised that improvements would be made in the NTA. The K Radhakrishnan Committee report was set up to suggest reforms to the NTA and it put forth 101 recommendations. Rather than seriously implementing reforms, the Mantri Pradhan continued to dawdle, demonstrating incredible complacency.

"The post of Director General -- the critical chief executive position in the NTA -- was held as an additional charge by officers for the entire period between the 2024 paper leak and the 2026 paper leak," Ramesh claimed.

Predictably, he said, the NTA presided over yet another paper "leak" in the NEET-UG 2026 and was forced to cancel the medical-entrance exam post-facto.

"Even at this point, the NTA and the Department of Higher Education shamelessly claimed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education that there had been no paper leak. The optics mattered more to Mantri Pradhan than the truth.

"Meanwhile, the ever-arrogant Mantri Pradhan showed his utter contempt for Parliament and wise counsel by dismissing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education's recommendations to strengthen the NTA, simply because the committee had members of the Opposition in it," the Congress MP said.

He added that even after the nationwide outrage, the NTA continued to preside over a reported paper leak in the UGC-NET Sociology 2026 exam and alleged irregularities in the UGC-NET English 2026 exam.

Gandhi earlier expressed full support for the protesting students, saying their demands, including Pradhan's resignation, are fully legitimate and non-negotiable. He claimed that the government and its leadership are in panic and therefore, targeting students and opposition leaders. PTI SKC RC

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)