Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday praised student whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant and his associate Nisarga Adhikary for exposing what he described as the "collusion" between the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and COEMPT, while stepping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the OSM controversy.
Sharing a video of his meeting with the two on X, Gandhi said PM Modi wants young people to keep "making reels and fry 'pakodas'", but added that the students chose to question the system and seek answers.
Gandhi met Sidhant, an 18-year-old student affected by the CBSE's onscreen marking system (OSM), last week. Sidhant has alleged irregularities in the tendering process used to select a vendor for the OSM exercise for Class 12 board examinations.
The Congress leader highlighted the students' efforts to investigate the issue and raise concerns about the examination evaluation process.
In his post in Hindi accompanying the video, Gandhi said, "Sarthak is 18 years old, yet, in terms of mindset, courage, and principles, he is second to none. He and his associate, Nisarg, accomplished what the country's major media houses and investigative journalists could not: they exposed the collusion between CBSE and COEMPT to the nation."
An 18-year-old from the country proved faster and sharper than the CBI; this victory for the youth is, in the true sense, a defeat for the government, Gandhi said.
"Modi ji wants our youth to keep making reels and frying pakodas, without asking questions or opening their eyes. But these young men did ask questions, and they found the answers, too," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
"This is India's true youth power -- inquisitive, aware and informed. And remember, the country's future will not be led astray," he said.
While the government has shunted out two top CBSE officials following the on-screen marking system row, the opposition Congress has dismissed it as an eyewash and a cover-up, with Rahul Gandhi demanding that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan be sacked and an independent judicial inquiry be ordered immediately.
In the video, Gandhi asks Sidhant how he was able to find out information about alleged irregularities in the OSM tendering process.
Gandhi also hails him for doing the job of investigative journalists.
After meeting Sidhant and his family last Tuesday, Gandhi had posted pictures from the meeting and said, "Sarthak, stay firm on your principles."
Sidhant also made a presentation before a parliamentary panel on Tuesday on the alleged irregularities in the OSM tendering process.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) replaced the traditional method of checking papers with digital evaluation for Class 12 through the on-screen marking system.
However, a controversy erupted after some Class 12 students alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the OSM system.
