Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur launched a sharp attack on the Congress in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, 28 July, accusing the opposition party of repeatedly ridiculing India's culture and scientific community. His remarks came in direct response to Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's description of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, as a 'Gaumutra expert' during the debate on The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026.

The Remark That Sparked the Clash

Prof. Kamakoti is one of six domain experts appointed to a multidisciplinary panel tasked with overhauling the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET paper leak controversy. Priyanka Gandhi's characterisation of him during the Lok Sabha debate drew an immediate and pointed rebuttal from Thakur, who argued that the remark insulted a distinguished scientist and, by extension, India's institutional heritage.

'His qualification is greater than that of your entire family,' Thakur said, addressing Gandhi directly in the lower House.

Thakur's Broadside Against the Congress

Thakur widened his attack beyond the individual remark, accusing the Congress of a long-standing pattern of disrespecting Indian culture and tradition. 'They don't even attempt to understand India's culture and instead make a mockery of it. The Congress is making fun of a prestigious scientist who wants to gain knowledge on India's institutional heritage,' he said.

He also drew a pointed comparison between the two Gandhi siblings: 'I thought Priyanka Gandhi would be a bit better than her brother Rahul Gandhi, but after she took a jibe at the IIT Director, it seems both Gandhi siblings have the same frame of mind.' He added, in a sharp aside, that 'Gaumutra' could perhaps cure that shared disposition.

On Prof. Kamakoti's credentials, Thakur argued that expertise in Artificial Intelligence and an academic interest in traditional knowledge were not mutually exclusive. 'On one hand, if he is an expert on Artificial Intelligence, he can study about gaumutra — on the other, there's no stopping on that,' he said.

Paper Leaks, Rahul Gandhi, and the July 21 Sit-In

Thakur also linked the paper leak crisis to larger threats to national order, drawing a comparison with terrorism and Maoism. 'Just like the Modi government brought an end to Naxalism, it will also abolish the problem of paper leaks from its root,' he said.

He also trained his sights on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the Congress sit-in staged near Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence on 21 July. 'Rahul Gandhi thought that none of the youth reached out to him so what should he do... he did what no LoP should have ever done, he went and lied down near the Prime Minister's residence,' Thakur said. He added with a pointed dig: 'I can understand your pain, you are not getting the opportunity to go inside the official PM's residence. You are never going to get the opportunity to go inside.'

Thakur also called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah to act against what he described as 'anti-social elements' who had attempted to disrupt the student protests. 'The youth of this country had come to talk about the paper leak issue and had come with demands of a better system. They didn't come to get physical with the police or burn police vans,' he said.

SP in the Crosshairs

The BJP MP from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh also turned his criticism toward the Samajwadi Party (SP), reiterating a claim made earlier by fellow BJP MP Tejasvi Surya that the SP had repealed the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government's anti-copying legislation of 1992. 'Uttar Pradesh was made into a copying and paper leak state under the SP regime,' Thakur remarked, drawing loud protests from SP members in the House.

He also alleged that Rahul Gandhi had deliberately excluded other INDIA bloc allies from the 21 July demonstration. 'In his attempt to steal the spotlight, he didn't even call the other INDIA bloc allies. There is this lack of trust in your alliance,' he said.

With the Public Examinations Amendment Bill still under debate, the political temperature in Parliament over the NTA overhaul and paper leak accountability is unlikely to cool in the sessions ahead.