Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday met Class 12 CBSE student Vedant Shrivastava and his friends, who were targeted on social media with labels like “anti-national”, “Pakistani”, and “Soros agents” after raising concerns about discrepancies in their answer sheets, using the meeting to take a sharp swipe at the BJP-led central government.
What Triggered the Controversy
The row began after Vedant claimed that the Physics answer sheet uploaded by CBSE under his roll number did not belong to him. His social media posts gained widespread attention and triggered a broader debate over the board’s newly introduced On-Screen Marking system and the process for accessing evaluated answer books. CBSE subsequently acknowledged the error and shared the correct answer sheet with Vedant, also stating that steps were being taken to update his result if required.
Students Faced Online Abuse for Raising Questions
In a video shared by Rahul Gandhi on X, Vedant recalled the severe online backlash he faced after publicly raising the issue. “They started calling us anti-national and Pakistani,” he said, adding that some people accused them of being deep state agents trying to destabilise India.
Rahul Gandhi Slams the Attacks
Sharing the video, Gandhi wrote that Vedant and his friends were brilliant and brave young Indians who had asked CBSE and the Modi government simple questions but received insults instead of answers. Speaking directly to the students, Gandhi said that asking for one’s answer sheet should not make anyone an anti-national, and criticised those who deflected from the real problem by attacking the students instead of addressing their concerns.
Gandhi Calls Out Pattern of Deflection
Rahul Gandhi pointed out that instead of acknowledging the problem with the evaluation system, those in power were blaming the students and calling them spies or terrorists. “You have to accept the problem if you want to solve the problem,” he said, accusing the government of refusing to take responsibility for the CBSE error.
