Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned in the face of protests across India by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and opposition parties. He sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, Saturday.
Immediately after Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation, large numbers of security personnel began entering the protest site at Jantar Mantar. It is thought they will clear the demonstrators from there.
In a post on the social-media platform X (formerly Twitter), Dharmendra Pradhan wrote: “From the very first day I accepted responsibility for this. I never turned my face away from the situation. My resolve was that I would not let any talented student’s future be ruined because of examination mafias, nor let any injustice be done to any student.”
In a letter addressed to students, Dharmendra Pradhan said: “Considering that no anti-national force should be able to exploit this situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, that national unity should remain intact, that no student’s future should get caught in legal complications, and that our children should be able to give their time to their studies and building their careers — I have submitted my resignation to the honourable prime minister.”
For more than a month, students have been running an intense movement around Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in protest at the leak of the NEET medical-admission test paper and at corruption in education, and demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The movement grew up under the banner of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). People of various classes and professions from all over the country expressed support for the students’ movement.
At noon yesterday, Friday, union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh held a second round of talks with CJP representatives at the Constitution Club in Delhi. The CJP raised three demands: the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan; a guarantee that no legal action would be taken against the protesting students; and 1 crore rupees each in compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after the leak of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report