Paper leak Bill not enough to escape accountability, says TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee supported the Public Examination Amendment Bill, 2026, but accused the BJP-led government of failing to protect students and examinations. He said stricter laws alone cannot restore trust lost due to repeated paper leak controversies

New Delhi: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said the amendment bill on paper leaks will not wash away the 12 years of the “incompetence and failure” of the BJP-led Centre even as he extended his party’s support to the proposed legislation.

Banerjee made the remarks in the Lok Sabha while participating in a debate on the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026. “It cannot erase the humiliation faced by lakhs of young Indians. It cannot erase images of students who came seeking justice and were met with barricades and pellet guns, instead of love and compassion,” Banerjee said.

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He also said the Bill cannot erase the fact that the examination was cancelled and aspirants’ dreams were broken. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh on Monday.

Banerjee extended the TMC’s support to the Bill. “Support for this bill cannot be a substitute for accountability. A stringent law is necessary but by itself is not sufficient. If the examinations continue to be compromised by ‘systematic’ failures, no amendment, however stringent, will restore the faith that millions of students have lost. That is the question before this august House today,” the TMC leader said “Today, we support this bill because students deserve every possible protection but we refuse to allow this government to convert this legislation into a certificate of innocence,” he added.

Banerjee cited various instances of paper leaks over the past few years and said the amendment Bill brought by the government is a testament of the fact that it failed in curbing paper leaks in the country.

“The Bill that is being discussed is not the solution, rather this Bill is an admission that the NDA and the BJP government have failed. It failed to protect exams, students’ merits and today, after the failure exposed and exploded across the country, it wants Parliament to believe that increasing punishment will erase 12 years of its incompetence,” he added.

Banerjee said the government should remember that every generation eventually write a report card and the current generation is preparing a report card of the NDA government.

“This report card will have only one word written on the top: Failed. Failed to protect the examination, Failed to protect merit. Failed to protect trust. Failed to protect one’s dignity and honour,” the TMC MP said.