Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is facing calls for resignation amid series of examination paper leaks, notably participated in major protests when he was a student.
India’s capital New Delhi is witnessing massive demonstrations over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG paper leak, with protesters demanding government’s accountability on matters of education and the resignation of the Education minister.
At least 21 students died by suicide following the paper leak, even as the government rescheduled the examination and arrested 13 individuals accused in paper leak. The probe is now being conducted by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) but it has put Pradhan under unprecedented pressure as several paper leaks including NEET irregularities in 2024 and UGC-NET exam cancellation happened during his tenure. The matter escalated with Pradhan being at the centre of public anger after Delhi Police’s brutal crackdown on students and activists who gathered for ‘Chalo Sansad’ march on Jul 20.
Pradhan reacted on NEET protest after Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi staged a protest on Jul 21 outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on Tuesday (July 21). He accused Gandhi of “exploiting students” and said that “we owe the students answers, reforms and accountability.” That said, he did not say anything on his resignation calls.
Dharmendra Pradhan once led student protest in Odisha
Pradhan joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as a student activist in 1983 while studying at Talcher College in Odisha and went on to become the President of the Talcher College Students’ Union in 1985. Within 10 years, he rose up the ranks and was appointed the National Secretary of the ABVP in 1995. Two years later, in 1997, he, as a student leader took to streets of Odisha leading a massive protest against state-level question paper leak and examination irregularity scandal. He led a rally of approximately 1,500 students directly to the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar. According to Prashant Rout, the Principal of RMD Degree College, who spoke to Indian Express, Pradhan faced ‘heavy police crackdown’ and was injured in lathi-charge. Rout was Pradhan’s junior in Utkal University, where the latter was a student of MA Anthropology.
Before taking charge as the Minister of Education in 2024, Pradhan served as the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship from 2021-2024 and Minister of Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas from 2019 to 2014-2021. He first entered the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 2000 and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004, the same year that BJP government under former late PM AB Vajpayee’s ended. He belongs to a political family as his father, Debendra Pradhan also served as a Minister of State in the Vajpayee government between 1999 and 2004.