New Delhi, Jul 25 (INB) President of India, Droupadi Murmu has accepted the resignation of union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, an official statement said on Saturday.
Pradhan had to put down his paper after 37 days of massive nationwide student protests led by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) against the frequent leak of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) –India’s single mandatory entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses like MBBS and BDS.
“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Shri Dharmendra Pradhan from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution of India,” the statement said.
Cabinet minister Pralhad Joshi has been assigned the charge of the Ministry of Education, in addition to his existing portfolio.
CJP announced withdrawal of nationwide agitation with immediate effect
“All demands of the Cockroach Janta Party have been accepted by the government,” CJP said in a social media post.
The demands include maximum possible compensation for families of NEET paper leak-related suicides, all FIRs by Central govt and NDA-ruled states will be withdrawn, and no action will be taken against anyone involved in these protests in the future.
“CJP’s 5-point exam reform charter will be considered by the govt and the CJP will meet with the govt to discuss these reforms further,” it said.
The moment was triggered after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant allegedly compared unemployed youth to “cockroaches and parasites” while he later clarified that his comments were directed at holders of fake degrees.
CJP founder Abhijit Dipke created social media accounts following remarks of the Chief Justice which saw the number of followers beating the number of BJP followers within a couple of days.
The social media moment started its first offline protest against the education minister on June 6.
Environmentalist, scientist and social activist Sonam Wangchuk extended his support to the CJP campaign and joined the protest with a hunger strike on June 28.
The protest escalated after Wangchuk was forcibly picked up by Delhi police from Jantar Mantar and moved to hospital fearing his deteriorating health could have triggered massive outrage.
Several celebrities starting from Omi Vaidya, who played the character of Chatur in bollywood blockbuster 3 idiots openly extended his support to Wangchuk and appealed to people to support.
Later several celebrities including Alia Bhatt, Sonu Sood, Naseerudin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Prakash Raj, Atul Kulkarni, Diljit Dosanjh, Vir Das, Dia Mirza, Soha Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh And Genelia D’Souza, Aditi Rao Hydiri, Abhay Deol, Anurag Kashyap, Omi Vaidya, Soni Razdan, Chinmayi Sripaada, Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Nandita Das, Bhumi Pednekar, Sutapa Sikdar, Richa Chadha, Rajkumar Rao, Imran Khan extended their support to the protest.
The protest received active support from all opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress.
The protest continued to grow larger everyday despite brutal action from Delhi police and police in other BJP ruled states including Uttar Pradesh.
