Anti-Paper Leak Bill In Rajya Sabha: The Rajya Sabha witnessed a stormy exchange between the opposition and treasury benches on Thursday after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks on Manusmriti
during the speech on anti-paper leak bill drew sharp objections from the treasury benches.
While participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, the Rajya Sabha LoP criticised the BJP-led central government’s education policies, alleging that education had become increasingly inaccessible to the poor and that key positions in universities were being filled by people associated with the RSS.
He also claimed that changes were being made to school and university syllabi and referred to Manusmriti, alleging it promoted caste discrimination in education.
#BreakingNews | Kharge’s Manusmriti remark sparks uproar; Nadda hits back, remarks expunged#Education #StudentProtests #India pic.twitter.com/YYAOUhrxZ2
— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 30, 2026
Kharge alleged that Manusmriti had promoted casteism in the field of education, which received strong objections from the Treasury Bench.
The remarks immediately drew protests from the NDA MPs leading to sloganeering and repeated interruptions in the House.
Leader of the House JP Nadda rejected Kharge’s claims, saying the remarks were “far from the truth” and could send a wrong message across the country.
“Kharge should authenticate his statement,” Nadda said, objecting to the reference made during the debate.
“We are listening to the Leader of the Opposition peacefully, and in a democracy, it is the government’s responsibility to do so. But I request the Leader of the Opposition not to speak in a fit of rage or use unparliamentary language. The sentence he has just used is unparliamentary and should be removed from the proceedings. He should avoid making such remarks in an emotional state…” Nadda said.
Delhi: Leader of the House J.P. Nadda says, “We are listening to the Leader of the Opposition peacefully, and in a democracy, it is the government’s responsibility to do so. But I request the Leader of the Opposition not to speak in a fit of rage or use unparliamentary language.… pic.twitter.com/N5dKoPWOMe
— IANS (@ians_india) July 30, 2026
As the exchanges grew louder, Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan intervened and ruled that Kharge’s remarks relating to Manusmriti and the quoted material would not form part of the official record.
During the debate, Kharge argued that the proposed anti-paper leak law would not solve the problem merely by increasing penalties or setting up fast-track courts.
He said the focus should instead be on preventing question paper leaks through systemic reforms. Kharge also accused the Centre of commercialising education and alleged that poor students were increasingly being denied equal opportunities.
“… Due to paper leak, how many innocent people were harmed and how many people were beaten, how many parents are troubled, how many women and children are troubled. You have just changed the figures in the Public Examination Amendment Bill 2026 which has come here for discussion. In this bill, only the figures kept changing. Nothing is going to happen with that. You have included provisions like higher fines, harsher punishment, special task force, fast track courts etc. This is not going to make any difference. It will make a difference as to how you will conduct this examination and how you will prepare without paper leak, it depends on that… he said.
He launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his late-night Instagram address to students amid the paper leak controversy, alleging that the government had acted only after massive protests forced it to respond.
“We have been requesting to strengthen the anti-paper leak bill since 2024, but the government did not listen to us,” Kharge said.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, for a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, day after the Lok Sabha cleared it.
