Ponnam Prabhakar Slams Centre at 'Chatron Ki Goonj' Event in Hanamkonda

Hanamkonda:Transport and BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Wednesday accused the central government of "playing with the future of students" by failing to ensure a transparent and credible examination system across the country.

Addressing the 'Chatron Ki Goonj' programme organised by the Congress at Kishanpura in Warangal West assembly constituency, the minister said providing quality education, fair examinations and equal opportunities to students is a constitutional responsibility of the Centre, but it had failed in this.

The programme was attended by Warangal west MLA Nayani Rajender Reddy, Wardhannapet MLA Nagaraju, MLC Shankar Naik, Hanumakonda DCC president Ram Reddy, Congress leaders, students and youth representatives.

Expressing concern over repeated examination irregularities, Prabhakar said question paper leaks, cancellation of examinations and re-tests in recent years had caused severe mental stress to lakhs of students across the country. Referring to the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination, he said the leak had created uncertainty among aspirants and raised serious questions about the credibility of the examination system.

The minister demanded the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, holding him morally responsible for the alleged examination lapses. He also criticised the police action against students protesting the irregularities, describing the alleged lathi-charge as undemocratic.

Prabhakar condemned the arrest of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi during protests over the issue. This reflected the Centre's "arrogant attitude" towards democratic dissent.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond to the concerns of students and initiate comprehensive reforms to establish a transparent, impartial and secure examination system across the country.