Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation after 37 days of NEET controversy: Know the 5 big reasons due to which the powerful minister of Modi cabinet had to lose his chair.

A big news has come to light amidst the ongoing massive protests across the country regarding the NEET paper leak controversy. India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has finally resigned from his post after increasing pressure from the students who had been standing at Jantar Mantar for almost 37 days.

While resigning, he wrote that the situation prevailing at Jantar Mantar could threaten the unity and integrity of the country. Keeping in mind that the future of the youth should not be ruined and they should not get entangled in legal complications, he has decided to submit his resignation. It is noteworthy that in the 12 years of Modi government, Dharmendra Pradhan is the first minister who had to leave his post under the pressure of any protest. Pradhan, who was in the government since 2014, was considered a very powerful minister in the Modi cabinet and had previously held important ministries like petroleum and steel.

5 main reasons for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation

1. Strong stance of students and opposition

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which is leading the movement at Jantar Mantar, remained adamant on the demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. CJP representatives (Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka) had made it clear that the protest would end only when the Education Minister steps down. Along with this, while holding a press conference with students from 10 Janpath, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had also made it clear that no compromise will be made with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan.

2. There was chaos from Parliament to the streets

In the first 5 days of the Parliament session which started from July 20, the proceedings of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha came to a standstill due to continuous uproar. At the same time, apart from Delhi, student protests also started taking a violent form in BJP ruled states like Bihar (Patna, Siwan), Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, due to which the pressure on the central government increased a lot.

3. Failure in damage control

The Education Ministry could not properly handle the controversy that arose after the NEET paper leak on May 3. In the initial phase the demonstration was ignored by the government. When the controversy went out of control, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had to intervene and announce strict laws, while Dharmendra Pradhan, as the Education Minister, failed to control the damage.

4. Stubborn attitude and lack of communication with students

Dharmendra Pradhan’s stubborn attitude and not communicating directly with the students is also considered to be a major reason behind his resignation. While leaders like Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan went to Chandigarh during the farmers’ movements and resolved the issues through talks, Dharmendra Pradhan remained completely cut off from the protesting student leaders during this entire controversy.

5. NTA’s negligence and non-implementation of recommendations

Even in the year 2024, after the NEET paper was leaked, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Radhakrishnan. The moral responsibility for not fully implementing the suggestions given by the committee and the continuous negligence of the National Testing Agency (NTA) also ultimately fell on the Education Minister, due to which he had to lose his chair.