New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha on Wednesday termed the move by BJP’s top leadership to reduce the number of vehicles in their convoys “hollow symbolism” and questioned the actual extent of the reduction.

Talking to IANS, Jha said: “How much did they reduce it by? How much did they actually bring it down? From 75 to 37, or from 35 to 17? Look, this may work for headline management.”

He further criticised what he described as excessive expenditure by the government, saying: “Just recently, there were so many oath-taking ceremonies, and there were charter planes everywhere. Was anyone even counting? Billions were spent.”

The RJD leader also took a swipe at the government’s appeal for “austerity” measures among citizens. “Then you tell the middle class to carpool, travel by metro, or use buses. You even ask people to consume less oil. In fact, I had even written that an ‘oil inspection squad’ should be formed, where teams in every neighbourhood go door-to-door checking whether someone has consumed more oil than patriotism allows. It is only hollow symbolism,” he said.

Jha also reacted to the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 examination following allegations of a paper leak.

“Look at it through the eyes of those children and their families. They work hard year after year. They appeared for the exam on May 3, and yesterday they found out that the examination had been cancelled,” he said.

Questioning the system, he added, “Why was it cancelled? Because the paper got leaked. Why did it get leaked? Because this mafia syndicate is operating throughout the system, from the bottom to the top. We had raised this issue in Parliament in 2024 as well.”

He further alleged that no concrete action would follow. “Nothing will happen. There will only be the drama of a CBI inquiry. They will continue this for some time and then leave it midway. But what about those students who prepared with enthusiasm and dedication? Will they be able to regain the same energy and resources again?” he said.

–IANS

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