BJP and Congress Trade Protests Over NEET Paper Leak Scandal

India's ruling and opposition parties have spent the past week trading blame and staging rival protests over the NEET UG 2026 paper leak scandal, which led to the exam's cancellation on May 12. Over 22 lakh candidates were affected, and a re-examination has been scheduled for June 21. On May 19, Bharatiya Janata Party workers demonstrated outside the Congress Bhavan in Latur City, demanding accountability for the alleged leak. The BJP accused the Indian National Congress of shielding prime suspects PV Kulkarni and Shivraj Motegaonkar, the director of RCC. The Latur City District Congress Committee dismissed the demonstration as political drama, countering that because the central government supervises NEET, responsibility for the scam lies with the ruling party. Two days later, Congress workers flipped the script with coordinated protest marches in Jamshedpur and Jaipur on May 21. In Jaipur, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President Govind Singh Dotasra led a march toward the BJP Headquarters, where police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Protesters demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, alleging the government protects paper leak mafias. In Jamshedpur, District Congress Committee President Parvinder Singh led a rally to the Deputy Commissioner's office, calling for those responsible to be prosecuted under murder charges, citing emotional distress and suicides caused by exam irregularities. The Union Education Ministry has announced a shift to computer-based testing next year to prevent future leaks.