Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has launched a sharp attack on the Modi government’s education policies, alleging that they are driven by centralisation, commercialisation, and communalisation. In a scathing article published in The Hindu, Gandhi accused the government of undermining public education and prioritising control over consultation.

Gandhi claimed that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been used as a facade to mask the government’s indifference towards the education of India's children and youth. "The Union Government's track record over the last decade has convincingly demonstrated that in education, it is concerned only with the successful implementation of three core agenda items—the centralisation of power with the Union Government, the commercialisation and outsourcing of investments in education to the private sector, and the communalisation of textbooks, curriculum, and institutions," she wrote.

She further alleged that the government's unchecked centralisation has had its most damaging impact on education, with the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) not being convened since September 2019. Despite implementing the sweeping changes of NEP 2020, the Centre has failed to consult state governments, sidelining their role in shaping educational policies. "It is a testament to the Government's singular determination not to heed any voice other than its own, even on a subject that is squarely in the Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution," she wrote.

Gandhi also accused the Modi government of using financial coercion to push its agenda, citing the implementation of the PM-SHRI scheme. She alleged that the Centre has been withholding grants meant for state governments under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to force them into adopting its model school scheme. "Among the most disgraceful acts committed by this government is the coercion of state governments to implement the PM-SHRI scheme by withholding the grants due to them," she wrote.