New Delhi

The Congress on Friday said when Parliament is in session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make a statement on the paper leaks issue on the floor of the House and not deliver a "one-sided Mann Ki Baat".

The opposition party said the "desperate and hassled-looking" PM finally broke his silence on paper leaks with a video message, and claimed that his lack of commitment to accountability is evident from his failure to even mention the student protests or the brutality unleashed on them.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked Modi for sidestepping the issue of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation in his video message released just before midnight.

In a post on X in the early hours of Friday, Gandhi said the prime minister should not insult the intelligence of students.

"Mr Modi, our students are demanding Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. Don't insult their intelligence with this pathetic midnight video. 1. Sack Pradhan. 2. Punish those who beat students. 3. Apologise," the leader of opposition said.

In his video message on Thursday night, Modi announced that a bill containing provisions for strong action against paper leaks would be introduced in Parliament next week.

He also said the contours of the bill would be discussed at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Friday, where the proposed legislation would be finalised.

Reacting to the PM's remarks, Kharge said, "Before coming to Parliament today, please dismiss Dharmendra Pradhan. First, apologise to the students and take strict action against those who ordered the use of batons and pellet guns to suppress the students' voices. Then we are ready for a detailed discussion on the education system."

"When Parliament is in session, the prime minister is required to make a statement on the floor of the House. He should not be delivering a one-sided 'Mann Ki Baat' outside Parliament," the Congress chief said in a post in Hindi on X.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said whatever eyewash the PM proposes, the first steps to any resolution are clear -- "sack Mantri Pradhan; punish those who beat them; apologise".

"The desperate and hassled-looking Pradhan Mantri finally broke his two-month-long silence late last night via a video message to speak on paper leaks," Ramesh said on X.

Remember that the Modi government has long denied that the NEET-UG 2026 exam was leaked, he said.

"The Mantri Pradhan deliberately refused to use the word leak in his press conference and the Education Ministry officially denied that a paper leak occurred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education," he said, referring to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

It is only the outpouring of public anger over the last two months that has made the PM accept the truth, Ramesh said.

"But this is also exactly why students no longer have any faith in the Modi Government. It has consistently prioritised its own cynical political calculations over student interest," he said.

It deliberately buried the evidence of widespread irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 exam despite the extremely fishy clustering of toppers in a handful of test centres, the Congress leader claimed.

It finally acknowledged that the NEET exam that year underwent what it called a "selective leak" in Hazaribagh, but it has failed to bring justice to the perpetrators. After calling Sanjeev Mukhiya the kingpin of the leak, it is now claiming that he is innocent, Ramesh said.

The CBI has also filed a closure report alleging that there was no paper leak in the cancelled UGC-NET examination of 2024, but has failed to provide any reasons for it, Ramesh said.

"This crisis does not originate in our slow moving judiciary alone, but in the weak investigations conducted by the CBI and the dishonest political leadership of the Modi Government," the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said.

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"The Pradhan Mantri's lack of commitment to accountability is evident from his failure to even mention the student protests or the brutality unleashed on them by his police forces on 20th July," Ramesh said.