Goa CM Slams NEET Protest, Questions Umar Khalid Placards

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said the recent student agitation in Goa over the NEET exam had "stooped to the lowest intellectual level", and that placards demanding activist Umar Khalid's release diverted the protest from its original purpose.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Goa Shiksha Samagam 2026 in Panaji, Sawant said students have every democratic right to protest, but maintained that the conduct and messaging witnessed during the recent agitation could not be associated



with genuine student movements.

Amid nationwide protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party over irregularities in the exam system and the NEET paper leak, Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister on July 25. 

The Goa police last week detained two youth in Panaji for allegedly expressing support for jailed student activist Umar Khalid during celebrations over Pradhan's resignation. Khalid has been arrested in a case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.