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Hyderabad: Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday, July 24, alleged that anti-social elements who sneaked into the CJP-led protest against the NEET question paper leak issue indulged in attacks against police and journalists, while Congress and other opposition parties are trying to defame the BJP.

Sanjay Kumar said the government allowed protests in Delhi and ensured security by considering the protesters to be students.

“In these circumstances, we have seen how some anti-social elements joined (the protest) in the guise of students and created destruction, including attacks on police personnel and journalists, raising anti-national, anti-sanatan, unrelated and provocative slogans,” he told reporters here.

Delhi Police observed restraint says Bandi

He said about 118 policemen and journalists suffered injuries during the march to parliament in Delhi earlier this week. However, police personnel observed restraint and only acted against anti-social elements by resorting to a lathicharge, Sanjay Kumar claimed.

Delhi Police on July 23 blocked over 480 Pakistan-based social media accounts involved in spreading misinformation, and an investigation was underway regarding other handles based abroad, he said.

Playing videos of slogans related to Article 370 and Lord Ram raised during Delhi protests, Sanjay Kumar asked how these slogans are concerned with NEET.

He asserted that genuine students would not carry stones and sticks but would only confine themselves to slogans.

Centre is ready for NEET debate, Oppn causing disruption: Bandi

Though the Centre is ready for debate in parliament, the opposition parties are not ready for it and are only seeking uproar, he alleged.

“The opposition INDIA bloc is not keen on resolving the issue. It wants Modi ji to step down and make Rahul Gandhi Prime Minister. They want to dislodge the BJP, spew venom at the BJP and spread wrong thoughts among youth. They are trying to create destruction,” he said.

He alleged that Communists and communal elements are trying to create unrest in the country by making comments against Sanatan Dharma and Hindu society in a way that would lead to the country’s division.

Manmohan Singh, Gehlot did not resign over paper leaks: Bandi

Referring to demands for the resignation of the PM, he alleged that paper leaks occurred 72 times during the previous UPA regime and 18 times during the Congress government of Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan.

Sanjay Kumar, who also played old videos of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying paper leaks took place in Rajasthan despite Gehlot’s best efforts, said that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Gehlot did not quit.

He also cited paper leaks in AAP-ruled Punjab, Congress-ruled Karnataka, in Uttar Pradesh during the Akhilesh Yadav regime, in West Bengal when Mamata Banerjee was chief minister and in Kerala when the LDF was in power and said the concerned leaders did not quit their posts.

Bandi hits out at BRS for students suicides

On BRS leader K T Rama Rao holding a protest in Hyderabad on Friday over the NEET issue, the Union minister said neither former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao nor Rama Rao resigned though engineering entrance and Public Service Commission exam papers were leaked.

Sanjay Kumar alleged that 27 students committed suicide in Telangana in 2019 when an alleged ‘benami’ company of K T Rama Rao indulged in irregularities in evaluation of Intermediate (11th and 12th standard) exam papers.

Training his guns on CM A Revanth Reddy, Sanjay Kumar said the Chief Minister showed double standards. The chief minister recently felicitated students of social welfare residential schools who achieved NEET ranks, but participated in a protest over the NEET issue on July 22, he said.

He also said that several people were arrested for their involvement in the NEET paper leak and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had apologised and sought a CBI inquiry. The NEET re-exam was conducted within 40 days, and results were announced, which shows the Centre’s commitment, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to give confidence to the students, their parents and the countrymen by announcing a bill to check question paper leaks, he said, adding that the Centre would ensure more reforms to prevent leaks.