'Educate, Agitate and Organise': With Ambedkar's Slogans, Students Made Dharmendra Pradhan Step Down

Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union education minister following the massive countrywide movement of the youth, led by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), demanding his removal from the Union cabinet after NEET-UG examination paper leak is a triumph of the ideal of accountability of the government to the people and the legislature.

Pradhan who admitted in his resignation letter that he took responsibility for the paper leak and never turned his back on the situation remained supremely indifferent to all the attempts to hold him accountable till the unprecedented mass upsurge against him for destroying the quality of education and causing havoc to the integrity of examination forced him to resign.

Ambedkar on accountability

In a parliamentary democracy, as Ambedkar said in his speech on November 4, 1948 in the Constituent Assembly, the government would remain responsible to people and parliament and so parliamentary system of governance was preferred by the Constituent Assembly in contrast to the presidential system which is anchored in more stability instead of responsibility. So, Pradhan not remaining accountable and refusing to follow that vision of Ambedkar was trampling upon the very constitution to which he owes allegiance as per the oath he took while assuming office as the Union minister.

Pradhan’s contempt for opposition

The accountability of the government or the minister to people and parliament means that the government formed by the ruling party and its members, forming the cabinet, must remain respectful to the opposition which is integral to parliamentary democracy.

But look at Pradhan’s attitude to the opposition and bipartisan Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh and consisting of 30 members of both the government and the opposition.

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The committee, in its report, criticised the functioning of National Testing Agency (NTA) and recommended measures to improve its working. When he was asked why that committee’s considered recommendation on NTA was not accepted by him to further streamline its crucial responsibility for conducting tests for selecting youth to different higher educational institutions, Pradhan stunningly said, “I do not want to go by the observations of the parliamentary committee. I will go by the Radhakrishnan committee. I will go by facts, I don't want to make political remarks…” He then contemptuously remarked, “Opposition members are in the parliamentary committee. You know better than me how they prepare the reports.” 

A Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) supporter holds a portrait of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, as supporters gather during a protest march, at the Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi on July 20, 2026. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.

Those loathsome utterances brought out his sinister motive against parliament within which such committees are held with high esteem as mini -parliaments with same privileges governing the parliament itself. It meant that Pradhan was scoffing at accountability which he thought is expendable because Narendra Modi regime is only obsessively concerned with stability of the executive at the cost of its responsibility to people and apex legislature.

Sonia Gandhi very rightly observed on July 24, in her The Hindu article, “An Education System’s Collapse, Young India’s Trauma” that “The education minister infamously displayed his own contempt for accountability by publicly dismissing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education's recommendations to strengthen the NTA, simply because it had members of the opposition in it.” “His unwillingness to resign from office despite these monumental failures,” she asserted, “has only further inflamed public opinion.”

Inflamed public opinion

Such “inflamed public opinion” arising out of the relentless protests of CJP at Jantar Mantar regardless of intense police brutalities and pellet guns fired at some of them eventually forced Pradhan to remain accountable to people and parliament. It was clearly manifested in his resignation letter wherein he stated that he decided to relinquish his office as Union minister taking into account the “situation arising at Jantar Mantar and across the country.” 

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So the question is why the situation arose in Jantar Mantar and across the country forcing Pradhan to quit? It is because he refused to be accountable in spite of owning responsibility for the NEET exam catastrophe devastating the future of the youth and the future of the country.

When the national outrage erupted against his incompetence and insensitivities against the trauma caused to the youth, massive and spontaneous protests exploded across the country, as the Cockroach Janata Party started its strike in Jantar Mantar. Opposition parties led by Congress also took a stand that only after Pradhan’s resignation discussion on education and NEET exam paper leak would be discussed in parliament.

Modi avoided accountability

Prime Minister Modi stood like a rock behind Pradhan not to remain accountable and stated in an Instagram video that fast track courts would be established to ensure quick trial of those accused of paper leaks. It only starkly brought to light Modi’s approach to subvert the ideal of accountability which he himself demolishes with impunity.

Rahul’s dharna

Thanks to Rahul Gandhi, leader of opposition, who along with other Congress MPs, took the unprecedented step of sitting on dharna in front of the prime minister’s residence. They were detained and forcefully removed by the police.

Police personnel detain Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during a sit-in protest near the Prime Minister's residence over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination, in New Delhi on July 21, 2026. Photo: PTI/Arun Sharma.

Gandhi justified that protest on the ground that when students were on streets protesting against paper leak and facing police brutalities he and his fellow Congress MPs moved out of parliament to be there on the road to fight for their cause.

This combined mobilisation arising out of massive people’s movement across India triggered by CJP and Gandhi hitting streets forced Pradhan to resign.

Ambedkar’s slogan

Among many names protesters invoked in this youth movement names of Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar were referred to frequently for their causes.

Azad Samaj Party supremo and MP Chandrashekhar Ravan addresses a gathering, as Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke holds a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar and stand up comic Kunal Kamra stands behind, during a protest by CJP demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination, at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi on July 15, 2026. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.

One of the slogans frequently used in this unprecedented protest was Jai Bhim, saluting Ambedkar, and his vision. In an uplifting sense this protest movement represented another slogan of Ambedkar, “Educate, Agitate and Organise.”

Also read: Paper Leaks, Anti-National Forces: What Dharmendra Pradhan’s Resignation Note Says, What it Doesn’t

It is a slogan which, according to Amartya Sen, represents deepening of democracy through education, agitation and organisation. The protest educated people about the issues of quality education, integrity of examination system, accountability of the ministers and above all lethal impact of Hindutva politics which negates education.

So, the triumph of accountability manifested in Pradhan’s resignation arising out of agitation of youth is just the beginning to detoxify our politics made venomous by BJP and Hindutva forces during these 12 years.

S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.

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