Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, July 25, 2026, sharply criticised the Modi government's handling of India's education system, urging citizens to read an article by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi on what he called the collapse of public education and the trauma faced by Indian youth.

Context

In his post, Siddaramaiah argued that student protests across India are not without cause, pointing to a combination of declining public investment, rising fees, expensive coaching industries, and repeated examination paper leaks. He stated that the central government had responded 'not with accountability and dialogue, but with police force.' The post tagged @INCIndia and @INCKarnataka, signalling a coordinated Congress communication effort.

The Chief Minister described the root causes as 'years of privatisation, commercialisation, political interference and neglect,' and summarised student demands as affordable public education, credible examinations, equal opportunity, and accountability.

Policy Backdrop

India's education governance has been a contested federal domain for decades. The Right to Education Act, 2009, passed under the UPA government, guaranteed free and compulsory education to children aged 6 to 14. The National Education Policy 2020, approved by the Modi government, restructured school and higher education with emphasis on flexibility and multidisciplinary learning.

Centralised testing through mechanisms such as NEET, introduced nationwide from 2016, has been a recurring flashpoint. Reports of irregularities in high-stakes national examinations have fuelled student agitation and sharpened opposition criticism of the central government's examination administration framework.

Sonia Gandhi, as Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party and a veteran figure in national policy, has been among the most prominent voices raising concerns about education equity. Her article, which Siddaramaiah urged followers to read, addresses what Congress frames as a systemic collapse in public education.

Stakeholders and Impact

The groups most directly affected, as identified in Siddaramaiah's post, are students from poor and middle-class families — described as 'lakhs of talented students' being left behind by rising costs and a shrinking public education infrastructure. The closure of public schools and the shift of universities toward loan-dependent financing are cited as structural drivers of this exclusion.

The post reflects a broader Congress strategy of positioning the party as the defender of public education against what it characterises as the central government's push toward privatisation. Karnataka, governed by Congress since 2023, has used state education policy as a point of contrast with the BJP-led central government.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the Union Ministry of Education responds formally to these opposition critiques, and whether Karnataka announces state-level budget measures on school education to back the Congress narrative with concrete action. Parliamentary debates on education allocations in the upcoming session are expected to serve as the next major arena for this political confrontation.

With student unrest over examination integrity and education costs showing no sign of abating, the pressure on both the central and state governments to demonstrate accountability on education policy is likely to intensify ahead of future electoral cycles.