- Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Education Minister after a student protest over the NEET paper leak
- BJP and NDA MPs welcomed Pradhan to Parliament with cheers and slogans
- Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury criticised the ruling MPs' support for Pradhan
Dharmendra Pradhan got off the car, smiled, folded his hands in namaste and began making his way amid cheers and "Dharmendra Pradhan zindabad" slogans as BJP and NDA MPs welcomed him to Parliament on Monday. The Odisha MP resigned as Education Minister over the weekend after a month-long student protest over the NEET paper leak.
There were scenes of jubilation as MPs closed in around him, with one MP even putting a traditional cap on the ex-Minister's head and a shawl across his shoulders, with the MPs throwing their weight behind the leader from Odisha.
The Congress has thumbed its nose at the ruling MPs welcoming Pradhan.
"They did the same thing with rapists of Bilkis Bano. It is their habit," Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Renuka Chowdhury said.
In 2022, the Gujarat government allowed the early release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her entire family in the 2002 Gujarat riots citing "good behaviour". Soon after the convicts were released from jail, visuals emerged of relatives greeting them with sweets and charan-sparsh, touching their feet for blessings, outside the Godhra jail, sparking outrage.
Weeks of protests over exam irregularities and other issues affecting young Indians culminated on Saturday with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education minister.
The social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spearheaded student protests that broke out in response to exam paper leaks.
Demonstrations that began at the Jantar Mantar protest site in the centre of New Delhi intensified and began spreading to other parts of the country.
"I have sent my resignation letter to the Prime Minister," Pradhan said in a statement posted on X.
The resignation came shortly before the much-anticipated third round of talks between government interlocutors and the CJP.
"I am pained to see the events of the past 10 days. This is not a matter of personal prestige for me," he said in his letter in Hindi.
"India's youth power is the real strength of this nation. My resolve is that we will not let the country's youth get trapped in a vicious cycle of confusion."
The CJP said after Pradhan's resignation that all their demands had been met in another round of talks and that they were calling off the protests.
