What Dharmendra Pradhan is doing amid ‘resign’ chorus by CJP, Cong: Group photos with MPs, reposting PM Modi's video

Besides attack on Rahul Gandhi, Pradhan has mainly communicated by re-sharing PM Modi's promises since CJP protest grew after police action on Parliament march

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has not said anything directly on the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) persistent demand for his resignation, particularly since the protests grew wider after police action during the July 20 Parliament march called by the CJP.

Barring an attack on Rahul Gandhi and his protest outside the PM house, Pradhan has mainly communicated by reposting on X Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promises of exam system reforms to prevent future paper leaks.

His activity in the past week has included showing that he held a meeting with fellow MPs from his home state of Odisha. This meeting came on July 22, and Pradhan on X posted a photo showing 15 MPs, including himself. The BJP has 20 Lok Sabha members from the eastern state where Pradhan was once seen as a potential chief minister, though he remains at the Centre as the party chose Mohan Charan Majhi in 2024.

He held the meeting with MPs during the adjournment of the Parliament session over the Opposition's demand that he be sacked and the NEET paper leak and other issues be discussed by abandoning all other business. The Parliament session remains disrupted as the government so far has not relented.

On his meeting with MPs amidst this, Pradhan said on X that it was about “various developmental issues of the state, along with the need for special assistance in the education of children affected by learning disability”.

Some comments on the X post saw it as his “show of strength”.

The same day, Pradhan delivered a long address at a conclave of education ministers from states and union territories. He did not mention papers leaks in his nearly 30-minute speech. This was his first public appearance since the protests intensified on Monday at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere with the ‘Sansad Chalo’ march. Pradhan’s X handle beamed the speech live. He spoke of matters like the importance of native languages, the National Education Policy and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), and other such policy issues.

Attack on Rahul ‘manufacturing confrontation’

A day before that is when he, even if indirectly, made a post by himself on the issues being raised around paper leaks — framing it as an attack instead. He claimed Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was “shamelessly exploit(ing)… students as political tools to manufacture disruption” during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

He said Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, besides other Opposition parties, “chose to stage a dharna outside the Hon'ble Prime Minister's residence, causing inconvenience to the public and disregarding established security protocols”.

He also said the government has conveyed its readiness for “a comprehensive discussion”. He accused the Congress of choosing “political spectacle over democratic debate”.

Rahul Gandhi, he alleged, was “manufacturing confrontation”, and asserted that “every genuine avenue for discussion has been opened”.

Also read | Dharmendra Pradhan's old post with Sonam Wangchuk, his wife goes viral: 'Appreciate their passion'

“Our Government remains 100% committed to discussing NEET and addressing every genuine concern of our youth on the floor of the House… We owe our students more than outrage. We owe them answers, reforms and accountability. That is exactly what our government remains committed to delivering,” he wrote.

That remains his only recent communication, of his own, on the issues being raised at Jantar Mantar and by Rahul Gandhi. Last month, when the CJP protest was still nascent, he had termed the protesters “B-team of terrorists” in a TV interview.

On the day of the CJP's ‘Sansad Chalo’ march, he re-shared PM Modi's address from the gates of Parliament in which the PM took a “not a young man aged 56” dig apparently at Rahul Gandhi. Later that day Pradhan re-shared a couple of posts by his ministry's official handle on the National Education Policy's (NEP) features. In between, he reportedly met Union home minister Amit Shah, but details on that did not emerge.

On the eve of the CJP march, on July 19, Pradhan met one of the toppers of the NEET-UG that was re-held. Panshul Bansal, ranked 2, later spoke in interviews about how he used the time between the leaked-thus-cancelled May 3 exam and the re-exam in June to prepare more “rather than protest”.

Over the past two days, as PM Modi started communicating directly on the issue of paper leaks (not naming CJP or others raising the demand), Pradhan has re-shared his posts.