If removing the union education minister would calm the protesting students, and if his resignation would let the opposition allow parliament to function, where is the difficulty for Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Why such reluctance to accept a demand students have been making for a month and the opposition has taken up loudly? Why is the government unwilling to make this accommodation?
That is the question now doing the rounds, along with discussion of Dharmendra Pradhan’s importance. What is his strength, and why is he so indispensable that the government will not accept the demand for his removal? It is worth examining.
One of the defining features of the Narendra Modi government is that it does not bow to pressure of any kind. In 12 years in power, the farm laws embarrassed the Modi government most. It passed three farm laws in September 2020, but withdrew them in November 2021 after a sustained nationwide movement and the blockade of Delhi’s borders.
Apart from that single instance, the government has not retreated from any decision in the face of protest — not the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution, nor the CAA, the NRC, or most recently the intensive revision of electoral rolls. Interest is therefore building around the students’ movement and their demand, with speculation about Dharmendra Pradhan’s political future.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made a remark about this government’s character in 2015. Commenting on the Lalit Modi controversy, he said: “This is an NDA government, not a UPA government. Here nobody is made to resign just because the opposition wants it.”
Since then it has repeatedly been seen that the government agrees to discussion of the opposition’s demands, agrees to inquiries, and perhaps takes various measures — but not once has a minister been dismissed.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw could not be made to resign over railway accidents. Hardeep Singh Puri was not dropped over the reported appearance of his name in the Epstein files. Cabinet reshuffles have been carried out on the BJP’s terms, at a time suitable for the BJP, and not in the face of opposition demands.
Dropping Dharmendra Pradhan to meet the students’ demand over corruption in the education system and the NEET paper leak would therefore run against the Modi government’s character. The government is still unwilling to bend before this demand. If it moved to defuse the crisis by dismissing Dharmendra Pradhan, it would have to be understood that the prime minister had been weakened — and that would become a weapon for the opposition in other areas too. For good reason, Modi does not want to make himself appear weak.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report