Rahul Gandhi slams NTA over NEET goof-up, as Nagpur student’s exam centre allotted in Abu Dhabi

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi tore into the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday, over a shocking anomaly in the admit card of a NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) aspirant, just a day ahead of the re-examinations.

Coming down hard on the examination body, Rahul accused it of “gambling” with the children’s future and said that despite bungling up on the previous occasion, it didn’t get its act together, thereby burdening the already stressed children and their parents.

The controversy erupted after a NEET aspirant in Nagpur was reportedly found to have been allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi for the re-test scheduled on June 21, 2026. The mega blunder by NTA has hogged national attention and is drawing backlash and criticism from the student community.

Nagpur-based candidate named Abdullah Mohammad Talib discovered the discrepancy while downloading his Re-NEET 2026 admit card from the official website. Instead of being assigned a centre in his city, his admit card mentioned an examination centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

As the matter kicked up a row, the NTA sought to downplay the issue and assured that “the grievance is being addressed and the candidate will be allocated a centre in Nagpur, after due verification, in the next few hours.”

Rahul Gandhi expressed dismay over the embarrassing incident, happening just a day before exams, and over student’s emotional turmoil.

He said that the student, being at the receiving end of NTA’s mismanagement, cried all night and is reluctant to take the exams.

“What kind of stress is this? Can you even imagine? The NTA is actually just testing the patience of the country’s children and their parents,” Rahul said in a post on X.

Hitting out at the ‘broken’ education system, the Congress leader said that he raised the matter earlier also, during his interaction with students in Kota and said, “This is nothing but extortion of an entire generation’s money, time, and mental peace.”

Further stepping up the heat on the NTA, he said, “Stop gambling with our children’s future. They deserve a sensitive, responsible, and accountable education system and exam authority.”

–IANS

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