It is rare for the Narendra Modi government to bow to public pressure. Even more rare is the resignation of a sitting minister. This is why the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is a major event.
Even to draw a distant parallel, one has to turn back the clock to 2018, when MJ Akbar resigned from his post as Union Minister of State for External Affairs at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Dharmendra Pradhan resignation
Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday, marking a major victory for the CJP-led protests against alleged paper leaks. The protesters refused to budge without his resignation despite the government’s assurance that it would respond to their other demands, including compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after the NEET paper was leaked and not taking legal action against those who participated in the march to Parliament earlier this week.
The CJP also said that the third round of talks with the government will take place only if Pradhan resigns. Just hours before the talks were scheduled to take place (which happened later), the resignation came.
Pradhan said he took full responsibility for the NEET paper leak and “never shied away from the situation”, but “individuals in responsible positions tried to create hurdles and mislead the students”.
“Considering the situation in Jantar Mantar and across the country – with the aim of preventing anti-national forces from exploiting it, preserving national unity, ensuring that the future of no Indian student is not tangled in legal complexities, and allowing our children to devote their time to studies and focus on building their careers – I have tendered my resignation to the honorable Prime Minister,” the 57-year-old wrote in a letter posted on X.
In parallel with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan since 2014
The opposition has long been accused Narendra Modi’s ‘arrogant’ government, so-called ministers not stepping down even after several controversies. They claim that this has become a trend since Prime Minister Modi came to power in 2014.
Back in 2015, Rajnath Singh fanned the flames of such allegations, which the opposition continues to cite. He had said at the time: “This is the National Democratic Alliance government. Resignations do not happen here.” And it was mostly true. Well, mostly.
The last and only time something similar happened — but very different in terms of the type of allegations leveled — was in 2018, when M.J. resigned. greater.
Akbar, who has been Minister of State for External Affairs since 2016, has been accused of sexual harassment by several women amid the growing #MeToo movement in the country. Most of these women worked or interacted with him when he was editor-in-chief of several leading newspapers. There were protests against him, but they were not close to those against Dharmendra Pradhan.
Several reports at the time said that it was Akbar’s decision to step down, and that he would remain in the BJP. “This will not set a precedent,” BJP leaders were quoted as saying at the time.
Akbar himself said he resigned to face the charges “before a court in my personal capacity” and “to challenge the false accusations.”
Others persisted despite persistent calls for their removal
Ajay Kumar Mishra Tene, Minister of State for Home Affairs, faced opposition demands for his resignation after an SUV registered in his name ran over farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in 2021. Mishra’s son was accused of driving the SUV.
Teni remained in office until he lost his Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections.
Before that, in August 2017, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had offered to resign after two train derailments in five days, tweeting that he had met Prime Minister Modi to take “full moral responsibility” for the incidents. Modi asked him to wait, and Prabhu was transferred from Railways to Commerce and Industry in a reshuffle days later.
