New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday intensified the Opposition's attack on the Centre during the Lok Sabha debate on the anti-paper leak Bill, accusing the BJP government of offering 'jumlas' instead of assurances and claiming that student protests over examination paper leaks forced the government to change its stand. 

Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Yadav said the government believed it was 'invincible' until students took to the streets.

Referring to the protests, he remarked that youngsters proved 'jhukti hai duniya jhukane wala chahiye', adding that the government eventually bowed to public pressure and even made a minister resign.

The SP chief also said he had watched the protests from a distance and claimed that, after the protesters secured a victory, slogans were raised against the government. He accused the BJP of projecting itself as a government that never bows down, but argued that the agitation over paper leaks forced it to relent.

Targeting the ruling party further, Yadav said the BJP government gives 'jumlas' instead of assurances and expressed hope that the promises made to young people would ultimately be fulfilled.

Earlier, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi questioned the effectiveness of the 2024 anti-paper leak law, arguing that examination leaks had continued despite the legislation and citing bail granted to several accused in such cases.

He argued that despite Parliament enacting the anti-paper leak law in 2024, examination leaks have continued to surface in the following years.

Questioning the government's commitment to tackling organised examination fraud, Gogoi claimed that 45 individuals booked in paper leak cases are currently out on bail.

He also referred to alleged mastermind Sanjay Mukhiya, saying he secured bail after the CBI failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated period, and contended that such developments undermine confidence in the law's effectiveness.

Defending the amendments, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj described them as a transformative step to safeguard students' futures. She said the issue was above politics and warned that the 'paper mafia' would face the strictest action under the strengthened law.

Earlier, opening the debate on the Bill, Minister of State for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh said the Bill proposes amendments to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which he described as India's first dedicated law to protect the integrity of public examinations.

Defending the amendments, Singh said the existing law primarily enabled action against the immediate offenders, whereas the proposed changes seek to bring within the legal net everyone involved in a paper leak, whether directly or indirectly. He added that the enhanced penal provisions are intended to ensure accountability across the entire network behind such crimes.

Calling the amendments a step towards 'speedy justice', Singh argued that paper leak incidents had occurred in several states governed by different political parties and stressed that the issue should not be reduced to a political blame game.

He also asserted that despite multiple paper leak incidents before 2014, the country lacked a comprehensive law to deal with the menace.

According to Singh, the Narendra Modi government addressed that gap by enacting the 2024 law, while the latest amendments seek to further strengthen its implementation.

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Dr. Jitendra Singh on Monday and seeks to amend the 2024 legislation.