Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (May 28, 2026) accused Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of being “complicit” in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decision to award the contract for its new on-screen marking (OSM) system to a controversial firm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have sacked Mr. Pradhan for “ruining the futures of lakhs of students”, Mr. Gandhi said, responding to widespread complaints of irregularities in the new evaluation process.

His remarks came after the Education Minister said Mr. Gandhi was making allegations after facing repeated electoral losses.

“Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want but it won’t absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children,” the Leader of Opposition in the Llok Sabha said in a post on X.

Controversial contract

Mr. Gandhi accused Mr. Pradhan of failing to answer questions relating to the award of the CBSE’s OSM contract to COEMPT, a company he said had earlier operated as Globarena and was already “mired in controversy”. He asked why the contract was awarded to COEMPT, whether any background checks were conducted, and what links, if any, existed between the company’s management and the Union government.

“Either you ran a background check and went ahead anyway — or you didn’t run one at all. Either way, you are complicit,” he alleged.

Escalating his attack, Mr. Gandhi said accountability ultimately rested with the Prime Minister. “As for responsibility — if the PM cared, he should have sacked you long ago for ruining the futures of lakhs of students,” he said.

‘Den of corruption’

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh also accused Mr. Pradhan of resorting to “arrogance and political dramabaazi” instead of addressing concerns over students’ welfare.

In a separate X post, Mr. Ramesh alleged that the Education Minister was attacking the Leader of the Opposition while presiding over “a den of corruption and mismanagement”. 

He added that responsibility for the “NEET-CBSE debacles” lay not only with Mr. Pradhan but also with the Prime Minister, for continuing to back him even after question paper leaks and widespread discrepancies marred the National Testing Agency’s conduct of the undergraduate medical entrance examination in 2024.