The Opposition on Monday called for the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the repeated paper leaks, with Rahul Gandhi calling the exam system a “fraud” and pointing to a “very serious problem” affecting millions of students.

As the Opposition, led by the Congress’s Rahul and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, launched a concerted attack on the government over the NEET-UG paper leak and other exam-related fiascos in the Lok Sabha, marking a stormy start to the budget session, Pradhan rejected the demands for his resignation and said he was at the “mercy of my leader”.

“Sir, I am at the mercy of my leader, Hon. Prime Minister,” Pradhan told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour as Congress MP Manickam Tagore asked if the minister would consider resigning given the “gravity of the situation and the accountability and integrity of the office”.

“Whenever the question of accountability comes, my government is collectively responsible,” Pradhan added.

The Opposition focused on the “failures” of the education minister, alleging that there had been 70 paper leaks in the past seven years and staging a symbolic walkout.

Pradhan rejected the charge and said there was “no evidence”, but accepted some incidents of paper leaks and stressed that a CBI inquiry was on and the issue was before the Supreme Court too.

The most stinging attack came from leader of the Opposition Rahul, joined by SP chief Akhilesh. Speaker Om Birla intervened to urge members not to cast aspersions on all exams, stressing that the House was not a “platform for it”.

“It's obvious to the whole country that there is a very serious problem in our examination system. This is not just a question of NEET; it is in all major examinations. Now, the minister has blamed everybody except himself,” Rahul told the House, amid applause from the Opposition.

“The issue is that there are millions of students in this country who are extremely concerned at what is going on and who are convinced that the Indian examination system is a fraud. That is what is at stake here," Rahul said.

“Millions of people believe that if you are rich, you can buy the Indian examination system. This is the same feeling people in the Opposition have,” Rahul added, asking what the government was doing to “fix this issue at a systemic level”.

Raising a question ahead of Rahul, Akhilesh said the government would surely create new records in paper leaks and sought Pradhan’s resignation. “Students across the country are protesting. The investigation is leading to revelations, arrests are being made. I have only one request, students will not get justice if this minister continues,” Akhilesh said, flagging apparent anomalies in the NEET results.

The attack by the two prominent Opposition leaders led to a full-fledged political storm with minister Pradhan hitting back, first at Akhilesh and then at Rahul. “I don’t want to do politics, but I have a list of how many paper leaks happened when Akhilesh Yadav was in charge (as Uttar Pradesh chief minister),” Pradhan said.

Targeting Rahul, the minister said the centralised NEET-UG exam system was started in 2010, referring to the then Congress-led UPA government as “remote-controlled” and slamming the current leader of the Opposition for seeking to portray the country’s entire exam system as a “fraud”.

“The country’s examination system has been called rubbish. There cannot be a more unfortunate statement by the leader of the Opposition. I strongly condemn this,” Pradhan said. He recalled how a bill aimed to check the use of unfair means in examinations was withdrawn during the previous UPA government and cast aspersions on the Congress. “Under whose pressure was the bill withdrawn? Was it withdrawn under pressure from private medical colleges and the bribes paid by them?” he added, amid uproar from the Opposition.

At this juncture, Speaker Birla intervened. He chastised the Opposition for raising “sawal” (questions) on all exams, underlining that paper leaks had also happened in states ruled by the Opposition.

“If we raise questions over all the exams, then it will have a serious impact on the future of students who have qualified and on our education system in front of the world,” Birla said, urging members to come up with “positive suggestions” to improve the discrepancies in the system. He said the government had already brought a law and instituted an inquiry and that the case was being monitored by the court.

As Rahul stood up, seeking an opportunity to raise more questions, Birla denied it saying that he had already given enough opportunity to all the members to ask questions and that rules do not allow Question Hour to be turned into a debate.

At this point, Rahul staged a walkout in protest, with other Opposition members following him. The walkout, however, was symbolic and the Opposition MPs returned to the House after some time.

The NEET issue figured during Zero Hour too as Congress MP Hibi Eden raised it. Birla termed the Indian examination system as one of the “best in the world”.