Rajya Sabha Privilege Notice Against Kharge Over PM Modi Remarks Referred to Committee

Six Members of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have submitted a privilege notice in the Rajya Sabha against the Leader of Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge, over comments they consider disrespectful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, C.P. Radhakrishnan, has referred the matter to the Committee of Privileges for examination and a report.

The privilege notice was moved following remarks made by Mr. Kharge on the temporary restrictions imposed on the messaging platform Telegram ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination. Authorities had blocked access to certain functionalities, including message editing, to prevent the spread of leaked examination material.

In his comments, Mr. Kharge criticised the government for what he characterised as a failure to address the root causes of repeated examination paper leaks. He stated, "Whether it's deploying the Indian Air Force, blocking Telegram, or catching small fish to protect the paper leak mafia—this is all something the Modi government has to do because in the last 10 years, 90 paper leaks have occurred, and 9 crore youth are suffering due to this fraud and corruption. How long will this government keep covering up its failures?"

Mr. Kharge also questioned the accountability of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and suggested that the Prime Minister should seek his resignation. Additionally, he accused the Prime Minister of remaining silent over the impact of examination scandals, noting that several young people had taken their own lives.

The BJP MPs, in their privilege notice, argued that the remarks crossed parliamentary decorum and warranted scrutiny under the rules of privilege. The Committee of Privileges will now examine the complaint and determine whether the comments constitute a breach of privilege or misconduct. Its findings will be submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairman for consideration of further action.

The matter highlights the ongoing political debate over examination security, with the opposition criticising the government’s handling of paper leaks and the Centre maintaining that stringent measures are being taken to protect the integrity of competitive examinations.