Student protest over paper leaks ends as India’s education minister resigns
Dharmendra Pradhan sends resignation to Premier Narendra Modi after days of nationwide demonstrations and sit-ins
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) – India’s education minister resigned on Saturday after days of nationwide protests calling on him to step down over alleged exam paper leaks and irregularities in the country’s education system.
In a post on US social media platform X, Dharmendra Pradhan said the events of the past 10 days had saddened him, and this is “not a matter of personal prestige for me.”
“The unity of the nation must remain intact. Not a single student’s future in India should become entangled in legal complications. Our children should devote their time to studies and focus on building their careers,” he said. “Keeping all these considerations in mind, I have sent my resignation to the Honorable Prime Minister.”
The protests were led by the newly founded Cockroach Janta Party, a popular movement that emerged in response to controversial comments made by the country’s chief justice, who likened unemployed youth to cockroaches.
This week in the capital New Delhi, police used tear gas and batons to disperse marchers trying to reach parliament.
Celebration erupted at the Jantar Mantar protest site in the capital after the resignation.
‘Victory of millions of youth’
Chief of India’s main opposition Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge, described it as a “victory of our millions of youth who raised their voices on the streets across the country to fix the education system.”
“India’s ‘Students’ echo’ has finally reached the threshold of arrogant power,” Kharge wrote on X.
He said it is now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “turn to apologize to our young generation and to take strict action against those who unleashed lathis, batons, and pellet guns on them.”
‘We have done it’
Protesters erupted in joy after Pradhan’s announcement.
“We have done it,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said to a thunderous response by hundreds of protesters.
Senior minister JP Nadda, who met the CJP leaders for the third time on Saturday after Pradhan’s announcement, said, “we have accepted their demands”.
The youth-led movement has evolved to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what critics brand as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increasingly authoritarian style of governance.
The protests became one of the biggest challenges to Hindu nationalist Modi’s administration since his 2024 re-election.
The protesters’ other demands included compensation for those affected by examination irregularities and for legal cases against protesters to be dropped, CJP spokesman Ashutosh Ranka.
India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi threw his weight behind protesters in support of their cause, calling Pradhan’s resignation a “huge step”.
Gandhi called for Modi to “apologize” and respect students and India’s future generations.
“Action should be taken against those guilty of violence against students,” he said.
Sunil, 27, who came to the protest site for the first time on Saturday to “experience the atmosphere”, said it was “truly electrifying, especially after the minister’s resignation”.
“What the young people did was commendable,” he told AFP.
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