Government took ‘strict action’ against NEET paper leakers: PM Modi

A day after a protest march organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on the NEET question paper leak almost breached Parliament and was faced with police barricades and lathis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told NDA MPs that his government had taken “strict action” against those involved in the leakage and stressed to his MPs them to reach out to the youth.

He was addressing NDA MPs at the parliamentary party meet of group, which saw BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin and six newly joined Shiv Sena MPs (who crossed over from the Shiv Sena -UBT) attend for the first time.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that Prime Minister Modi told NDA MPs that the government had acted immediately after getting reports that the NEET question paper had been leaked, and 13 people had been arrested in the case.

“At the same time, the Prime Minister said, to ensure that students’ future was not affected, the NEET re-examination was given priority, conducted successfully, and the results were declared without delay,” Mr. Rijiju added. “He appealed that those guilty may be given the strictest possible punishment, with the support of the country’s top lawyers, so that those involved in such a grave offence face exemplary action and such incidents do not recur,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi also asked State governments to crack down on such incidents, in collaboration with the Union Government at the Centre, said Mr. Rijiju.

In what is being seen as his response to the CJP-led protest march on the NEET issue, he appealed to his own alliance MPs to “guide and help” youngsters with regard to their aspirations, asking that MPs take on a positive outreach, ensuring leak free examinations were in the “national responsibility” and not a matter for party politics.

Some MPs shared that Prime Minister Modi also underlined some positive achievements of young Indians. In his customary remarks before the Monsoon Session, Prime Minister Modi had spoken glowingly about India’s first private space flight with a team with an average age of just 28 years.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke about apprehensions expressed by farmers’ groups on the India-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A Kisan Mahapanchayat had been scheduled in New Delhi on Tuesday (July 21, 2026) by farmers’ groups over the effect the India-U.S. FTA will have on their incomes. Mr. Rijiju said that Prime Minister Modi told NDA MPs that such agreements (like the FTA) would prioritise the interests of farmers and work towards the welfare of both the farming community and the nation.

The NDA’s parliamentary party meeting, now christened “Mangal Milan” — to pun on the Hindi word “Mangal” meaning both Tuesday (during parliament sessions NDA MPs meet every Tuesday) and ‘auspicious’ — was supposed to a celebration of the BJP’s victory in West Bengal, a feat considered unthinkable just a few months ago, instead the discontent demonstrated by the youth via the CJP protests and apprehensions of farmers made this one of the most political addresses on this forum yet.