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Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the recent student protests over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak were "not anger or violence" but a reflection of the aspirations and concerns of India's future generation, urging all political parties, including the BJP, to respect the expression of the country's youth.
Participating in the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Rahul Gandhi said the nationwide protests demonstrated the deep feelings of students regarding their future. "I was very excited and reassured by what the future of this country did on our streets. This was not anger, this is not violence, this was not hatred. This was a deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel all political parties must respect this expression, including my friends in the BJP," Rahul Gandhi said. He further said that even BJP leaders would find similar sentiments among their own children if they spoke to them about the protests. "In fact, I am pretty certain, and I have seen examples of it, if my friends in the BJP were to go and ask their own children about what they felt about what their brothers and sisters were doing, they would find agreement among their own children. There is nothing wrong in what happened and every Indian should be proud," he added. The remarks came amid an ongoing political confrontation over the handling of the nationwide protests that followed irregularities in the NEET-UG 2026 examination. Earlier in the day, Congress MP KC Venugopal defended party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her remarks against Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, saying the Congress was focused on issues affecting students and their families and not making personal attacks. Meanwhile, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke also criticised the government's handling of the protests, alleging that students had been subjected to excessive force and warning that the organisation would launch another nationwide agitation if action against student protesters continued despite assurances given by the Centre. (ANI)
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