CPI(M) Hails Pradhan’s Resignation as Landmark Win for Student Movement

On Saturday, CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby stood before a cluster of reporters and declared the departure of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan a "historic victory" for the thousands of students who had taken to the streets after the NEET‑UG 2026 paper‑leak scandal. "The youth forced the Minister to step down after months of trying to dodge accountability," Baby said, his voice tinged with both relief and a hint of triumph.

The chain of events, he recounted, began with the leak of the NEET‑UG answer key – a breach that not only rattled the nation’s education system but also pushed several desperate candidates over the edge, some even to suicide. In the wake of those tragedies, activist Sonam Wangchuk launched a 26‑day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, while a newly‑formed political outfit, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), rallied under the banner of “justice for students”.

Baby highlighted the core demands that kept the protests alive: compensation for the families of the students who lost their lives, withdrawal of criminal cases against demonstrators, and a complete overhaul of the entrance‑exam process. "We’ve been asking the Modi government to address these issues for weeks, but they kept pulling the rug," he added, allowing a brief pause before continuing.

Eventually, the pressure cooker boiled over. On July 20, the CJP organised a “Sansad Chalo” march from Jantar Mantar straight to Parliament, a demonstration that saw police resort to lathi‑charges and tear‑gas in an effort to disperse the crowd. The spectacle, captured by numerous media outlets, only amplified the nation’s focus on the education debacle.

Amidst the mounting unrest, Pradhan submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing a desire to prevent the protests from being hijacked by “anti‑national forces”. In a surprising twist, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar publicly praised the decision, saying it sent a “positive signal” to the country’s youth and helped avoid sending a wrong message.

Baby summed up the sequence of outcomes with a concise list: revamp the entrance exam, drop the cases against protesting students, and finally, the resignation of the Education Minister. "All of this, after endless delaying tactics, now feels like a genuine win for the students and everyone on the front lines," he concluded, smiling faintly as he thanked the activists and student groups for their perseverance.

While the political reverberations continue to unfold, the episode has already sparked a broader conversation about accountability in India’s education system. Whether this will lead to lasting reforms or simply become another footnote in a long list of protest‑driven resignations remains to be seen. For now, however, many students are breathing a little easier, knowing their voices finally coaxed a minister out of his office.