Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government over the police crackdown on student protesters in Delhi and other places, saying that the “Prime Minister will have to change the angle of his heart rather than that of the cameras” if he wants to win over the Gen Z.Recalling her visit to a Delhi hospital to meet the mother of a girl who was critically injured in police action on protesting students and youths during their march on Parliament on July 20, Priyanka said she was “displeased” with VIP visits and asserted that she would fight alone for her daughter.Advertisement“I want to ask the Prime Minister and Home Minister what was the need to perpetrate such atrocities on a girl. What was the need to use pellet guns and AK-47 on students? Will the Home Minister answer who gave this order – the PM or the HM? The country is asking this today,” Priyanka said.Read | ‘Welcomed him as if he were a superstar’: Priyanka Gandhi slams BJP MPs for felicitating PradhanShe took strong objection to BJP MPs garlanding Dharmendra Pradhan in the Parliament complex after his resignation as the Union education minister, saying they behaved as if a “superstar” had arrived. Earlier, her party colleague Gaurav Gogoi also took a swipe at the BJP, saying its MPs hailed Pradhan as if he had just won a war against Pakistan.Pradhan was forced to resign on July 25 as the Modi government accepted the demands made by young protesters led by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), who held a sit-in at Jantar Mantar since June 20 in protest against the NEET-UG paper leaks, among other issues.AdvertisementThe Lok Sabha took up the amended anti-paper leaks Bill for consideration and passing, ending a week-long logjam in Parliament.Read | At least 5 years in jail, Rs 50 lakh fine: New anti-paper leak law highlightsThe Congress’s onslaught on the government came after Union minister Jitendra Singh, while presenting the Bill, pointed out that that it was an amendment to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, to make the law more stringent, which has been brought to protect the interest of students and youths.Singh said that paper leaks have happened in many states under the governments of various parties and that the Modi government’s 2024 law was perhaps the first-ever in India to combat various exam malpractices.The minister recalled past paper leaks in the Railway Recruitment Board exam in 2009, All India Engineering exam in 2011, and the AIIMS Delhi paper leak in 2012, saying that all these occurred during the tenure of the previous Congress-led UPA regime. Singh also mentioned paper leaks under various state governments led by the Opposition parties in states like UP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.Read | Sparks fly in Lok Sabha as government, Opposition clash over anti-paper leak BillSingh gave details of enhancement of punishments for exam irregularities under the new Bill, of how fast-track courts have been set up, and how the deadlines of two months for investigations and three months for court rulings have been laid down in it.“We are debating a Bill that is an amended version of a 2024 law – but no action has been taken under that law against anyone,” Priyanka said. “Using face recognition, the identities of the protesting students are being disclosed, but the same was not done for those involved in paper leaks.”“Apni saakh bachaiye, apni neeyat theek kariye, apni akad ka ilaaj keejiye (save your reputation, correct your intentions, treat your arrogance),” she said.Priyanka alleged that there had been “chori (theft)” in votes as well as at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, but “the biggest theft was the one of the future and dreams of the youths”. “If the youths become hopeless, it will be the country’s defeat, and we in the Opposition will die but not let the country lose,” she said.Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav said the police “oppression” perpetrated against the students during their protests was no less than what happened during the Emergency. He said that batons were used even then, but this time “electric current” was allegedly applied on students too.He said this when Union minister Kiren Rijiju sought to know whether he would support a government that brought a Bill to respond to students or those who imposed the Emergency.Akhilesh said that just like there was a regime change after the Emergency, there would be a regime change this time too. He said that even God would not save the government since its members were involved in the maha paap (grave sin) of chadhaava chori (theft of temple donations).He accused the government of allegedly shutting down more than one lakh primary schools so that children of the poor and Dalits would not get a chance to study, adding that people of a particular shade (ekrangee) had been placed in top positions in higher educational institutions.Earlier, initiating the discussion on the Bill, Gogoi, the Congress’s deputy leader in the House, said that after the 2024 NEET leak, 44 of the 45 accused chargesheeted had got bail, while its main accused Sanjeev Mukhia had remained absconding for 11 months before being arrested.“We want to know who are the 47 people terminated by NTA (National Testing Agency), as the sanctioned capacity of NTA is 34. Are these outsourced people who you had brought there?” he asked, wondering why the DG, NTA, was removed but the chairman has been retained. “He (NTA chairman) is related to a specific organisation,” Gogoi said, alleging that there was corruption under him when he was heading the Public Service Commission of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He charged that since the education department was important for the RSS, the government did not want education reforms. He claimed that education was being used for ideological indoctrination.On behalf of the ruling NDA, young MPs such as Tejasvi Surya (BJP), Bansuri Swaraj (BJP), and Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena) were among those who spoke on the Bill.Surya said the Modi government’s model was one of turning crises into opportunities, and that the government was responding to the recent NEET crisis in a manner that would fundamentally reform the education and exam system.Bansuri praised the Bill for speeding up investigations and setting up fast-track courts, saying this marked an important step towards a solution.Shrikant suggested that instead of having just one annual competition exam for which students invest years, there should be multiple exams even if the admission takes place once a year. He explained that this would protect students from losing one year in the event of any eventuality.NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule urged the House to think of parents whose children were facing exam leaks. Among other Opposition leaders who participated in the debate were Congress MP K C Venugopal and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee.you may likeThe amended Bill provides for a jail term up to 10 years, up from three to five years in the 2024 Act, and penalty up to Rs 50 lakh instead of the earlier Rs 10 lakh. If the crime is found to be organised, the Bill proposes a minimum sentence of seven years and a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore.It also sets a two-month deadline to complete investigations into paper leak cases. According to the Bill, states and Union Territories will be empowered to set up fast-track courts that can complete the trial within three months of filing of the chargesheet. The Centre, it says, will be empowered to set up a special task force to probe some paper leak cases.On Sunday, PM Modi also announced a high-powered task force on exam reforms led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.