The Monsoon Session of the 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha began on Monday with heated discussions over examination paper leaks, recruitment irregularities and students' protests, where the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Opposition Congress both raised concerns over examination scandals, while the House also passed a condemnation resolution targeting repeated paper leaks and the treatment of protesting students.
The session, chaired by Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan, began with obituary references and during the first sitting, which lasted around 11 minutes, the House paid tributes to Olympian and former sports administrator Randhir Singh, former MLA Sahi Ram Bishnoi, freedom fighter Sewa Singh, martyrs Sarabjeet Singh and Sikandar Singh, singer Chan Goraya, Manjit Singh, uncle of MLA Devinderjit Singh Ladidhos, and Bhupinder Singh and Sikandar Singh, uncles of Congress MLA Barinder Singh Pahra.
Even before the proceedings began, the Congress announced that it would corner the AAP government over the alleged pharmacist recruitment examination paper leak and after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa staged a protest outside the Assembly. They later entered the House wearing black stoles as a mark of protest.
The alleged pharmacist recruitment examination paper leak remained the main issue during Question Hour. Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira questioned the AAP government over its handling of the matter and said that while the party had strongly criticised the BJP-led Central Government over the NEET paper leak, it had remained silent on the alleged pharmacist recruitment examination paper leak in Punjab.
Later in the day, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema moved a condemnation resolution in the House and the resolution condemned repeated examination scandals, recruitment irregularities and institutional failures that, according to the House, had damaged the integrity of public examinations and affected the aspirations of young people across the country.
The resolution also condemned the alleged excessive use of force, arbitrary detention and criminal cases against peaceful students and citizens, including education and environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk, for exercising their democratic right to protest and the Punjab Vidhan Sabha expressed solidarity with students across India and called for the withdrawal of criminal proceedings against peaceful protesters.
Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann claimed that 93 incidents of paper leaks had been reported since 2014, when the BJP came to power at the Centre and said 65 paper leak cases were reported between 2019 and 2024 and accused the Central Government of failing to effectively deal with the issue.
Mann questioned the Prime Minister's claim of making India a "Vishwaguru", saying that such claims could not be justified if paper leaks continued and also alleged that the government was trying to rewrite history books and had remained non-committal on the issue of examination leaks, according to him, the Centre had only promised fast-track courts instead of taking stronger action.
The Chief Minister further alleged that pellet guns had been used against students demanding accountability and also made allegations regarding the Prime Minister's educational degree during his speech in the House.
Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the issue went beyond paper leaks and cheating. He stated that policymakers and governments should seek forgiveness from students for failing them. Bains said India needed to completely reboot its education system and called for all stakeholders to work together to create an education system that matched changing global standards and also said that students wanted to compete internationally and that an Education Commission was necessary to achieve the goal of a developed India. During his speech, he also raised the issue of E20 fuel.
The Education Minister said he was the only Education Minister who had visited protesting students at Jantar Mantar and said students from across the country had gathered there to protest for India and not against it, added that those raising their voices should not be labelled as anti-national.
Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan also praised the country's Gen Z while making remarks about a recent social media reel by the Prime Minister in which young people were addressed as "friends."
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema also addressed the House during the debate and alleged that 70 paper leak incidents had taken place under the BJP-led Central Government in recent years and claimed that 694 children had been arrested in Bihar and 16 in West Bengal.
Cheema alleged that the Centre wanted to privatise the education sector and questioned the use of pellet guns, arrests and force against protesting students and said the future of the country's youth was at stake and claimed that paper leak gangs had become active, referring to the NEET retest, he said around 2.5 lakh students did not appear again, which he said reflected a lack of trust in the Central Government.
Rebel SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali supported the condemnation resolution and praised the management of Gurdwara Rakabganj for providing shelter, food and care to students during their protest in Delhi, at the same time, he criticised the Punjab Government over the lathi-charge on protesting sanitation workers and MGNREGA workers, saying that everyone has the democratic right to protest.