Gandhi accused Modi of ignoring the concerns of 18.5 lakh students affected by the CBSE OSM controversy.
The Congress leader contrasted Modi's remarks on mangoes in 'Mann Ki Baat' with his silence on the issue, calling it "complicity".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the CBSE On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy, accusing him of ignoring the concerns of 18.5 lakh students whose answer sheets were allegedly scanned using mobile phones.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said Modi's silence on the issue was no longer mere indifference but amounted to "complicity".
The remarks came hours after Modi's monthly 'Mann Ki Baat' radio address, during which he spoke about India's diverse varieties of mangoes and their cultural significance.
In a post on X, Gandhi claimed that a CBSE tender issued in May 2025 had mandated that answer sheets be scanned using automatic robotic scanners, with spines preserved and a minimum resolution of 300 DPI (dots per inch).
"The tender re-issued in August quietly removed all of it. 'Scanners' became generic. The resolution dropped to 200 DPI. Now we know what that meant in practice. It has been exposed that COEMPT scanned the answer sheets using mobile phones," the former Congress chief said.
"The blurred copies, the missing pages, the unscanned books -- they are not 'errors'. They are the predictable outcome of a contract written to fit a vendor," Gandhi said.
Calling the episode a fraud, Gandhi said every child whose marks were incorrectly evaluated was a victim.
"This morning, the Prime Minister had time to speak about mangoes. He has not had time to speak about 18.5 lakh children whose answer sheets were scanned with phones. Dharmendra Pradhan ji still sits in office. Modi ji's silence is no longer indifference. It is complicity," Gandhi said.
During his 'Mann Ki Baat' address, Modi highlighted the country's rich variety of mangoes, noting that almost every household discusses the fruit during the summer season.
"Hapus or alphonso of Maharashtra, Kesar of Gujarat - these are the lifeblood of 'aamras'; Dussehri of Uttar Pradesh and Langra of Kashi. There are mangoes from Bihar, whose aroma can be smelt from far. Chausa, Malda - memories of people are tied to every name," he said.
The Prime Minister also mentioned several regional varieties, including Banganapalli, Totapuri, Neelam and Malgova from south India, Himsagar from Bengal, and Suvarnarekha from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
"In other words, the place changes, and so does the mango's form, colour, and taste... This journey of the mango is now reaching from villages to the global market," he said.
Later in the day, Gandhi again targeted the Centre over the OSM controversy, sharing a video of his interaction with a group of students. He described them as brave young Indians who had asked the Modi government straightforward questions but received "insults instead of answers".
Asserting that the students deserved a brighter future, Gandhi said, "We will make sure they get it."
