Speaking to ANI, Supriyo said the government was rushing to pass the legislation without clearly explaining its likely impact. He also objected to former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation statement, alleging that it sought to portray the agitation as being exploited by "anti-national forces." "Such provisions have been made and committees formed in the past as well, but their recommendations were never implemented. I found it objectionable that when Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, he stated he was doing so to prevent anti-national forces from exploiting this agitation... When the youth raise issues here, firstly, you do not listen to them, and subsequently, you use force against them... Your method of controlling peaceful protests was also flawed... Under whose orders did the police take action? We have received no answer to that either... You want to pass an bill in great haste, yet there is no clarity regarding what the outcome will be," he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske defended the proposed legislation, saying it introduced stricter provisions to curb paper leaks and accused the Opposition of politicising the issue for electoral gains, while arguing that paper leak incidents had occurred under previous governments as well. "This bill with stricter provisions was presented in Parliament today. The Opposition is doing its job to take political advantage from this issue as they have no agenda. Were there no incidents of paper leak during the tenures of Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh? Do the ministers have a role in paper leaks?," asked Mhaske.
The development comes after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday and the Centre on Monday tabled the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill in Parliament to curb paper leaks in the country.
Following a 37-day nationwide agitation led by the youth movement Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and activist Sonam Wangchuk, the Central Government took decisive action to defuse mounting public outrage. In a series of rapid developments, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, three rounds of high-level talks were held, and the Centre introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill in Parliament to curb paper leak syndicates. Shortly after these concessions, the CJP officially withdrew its sit-in demonstrations from Jantar Mantar. However, the resolution has sparked a fresh political row in Parliament. (ANI)
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