Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) compared the police action against students protesting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak with the Emergency, and claimed the Narendra Modi government had been forced to bend before an unprecedented student movement.

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The resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan reflected the pressure generated by the student agitation, Mr. Yadav said, participating in the Lok Sabha debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026.

“By removing one ‘Pradhan’, you effectively saved the ‘Pradhan Mantri’,” the SP leader said, adding that the government had abandoned its “arrogance” after students compelled it to accept their demands.

Calling the NEET-UG protests the first student agitation to receive the active backing of parents, Mr. Yadav said the government was “rattled” and had no option but to bow before the protesters. The police used “lathis with spikes, and electric batons” against students, describing the scenes in Delhi as reminiscent of the Emergency, he alleged.

When Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju countered that a government responding to protests was preferable to one imposing the Emergency, Mr. Yadav replied that while he had not witnessed the Emergency, “we have seen echoes of it in the national capital”.

Mr. Yadav also questioned the effectiveness of the proposed amendments, arguing that examination paper leaks continued despite existing laws. He took a swipe at the government over the outsourcing of the National Testing Agency and said the Opposition feared that “the entire government could be outsourced”.

The SP chief also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over chadhawa chori (donation theft) at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya during the debate.