The Assam Congress on Friday prodded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a “Paper Leak Pe Charcha” along the lines of his “Pariksha Pe Charcha” interaction with students to beat exam blues.

The appeal was made by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah during a sit-in protest held by the state unit at the Rajiv Bhawan against the alleged irregularities in the recently-held National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) examination, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission to medical courses in the country.

Coming down heavily on the BJP-led Centre for “not” being able to hold such an important examination as NEET, the first step towards producing doctors in the country, Borah took a dig at Modi to drive home the plight of students who had taken the NEET, and their parents.

Borah said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held Pariksha Pe Charcha (discussion on examination) before the (general) elections. Pariksa Pe Charcha! This time I request Narendra Modi to hold a ‘paper leak pe charcha’ (discussion on
question paper leak) now.”

Borah added, “The people of the country want to know how could there be 70 instances of question paper leak in the past seven years... You people set up committees to cover up these developments. This should not happen.”

Launched in 2018, Pariksha pe Charcha is an annual interaction Modi has with students, teachers and parents ahead of board exams to help them beat exam blues, among others.

Friday’s Assam PCC protest was part of the nationwide programme called by the All India Congress Committee in all state headquarters to flag the conduct of the NEET exam and declaration of the results.

Members of the Congress’ frontal organisations such as the Mahila Congress, Youth Congress, Seva Dal and NSUI participated in the protest which lasted for around three hours.

Borah cited the example of a girl aspirant from an economically disadvantaged family from Lakhimpur district. “She has cleared the exam but what will happen to her? Imagine her plight,” he said, asserting that the Congress will continue protesting “on behalf of the people of Assam and its students” till the BJP orders a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the NEET fiasco.