Pradhan gets hero’s welcome at Parliament
Dharmendra Pradhan, who resigned as Education Minister last week following students’ protests over the NEET row, got a hero’s welcome on Monday when he arrived at the Parliament House and said, “I am a street fighter. Not an AC-room activist.”
Several BJP and NDA MPs welcomed him as he got off his car and shouted slogans like “Dharmendra Pradhan zindabad.” There were scenes of jubilation as the MPs closed in around him, with one MP putting a traditional cap on the ex- Minister’s head and draping a shawl around his shoulders.
Opposition MPs at the same time shouted slogans like ‘Chor Chor, Paper Chor’ and hit out at the ruling dispensation for felicitating Pradhan.
“It happens,” Congress MP Jairam Ramesh told Pradhan, who resigned on Saturday. “Nothing happened,” the MP shot back, adding, “I am a street fighter, not an AC-room activist.”
Pradhan appeared smiling as his colleagues welcomed him. One BJP MP remarked that it was perhaps the first time a union minister had resigned without facing any personal allegation.
The brief exchange between Ramesh and Pradhan was seen by BJP leaders as a signal that he remains politically confident despite stepping down from the Cabinet and is ready to take on his next assignment.
Speculation suggests that the BJP MP might be assigned a role within the party organisation or tasked with leading the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in five States.
His supporters believe he has “sacrificed” his post in the national interest, a move expected to further strengthen his image among the public and in his parliamentary constituency, Sambalpur.
“I am pained to see the events of the past 10 days. This is not a matter of personal prestige for me,” Pradhan said in a statement posted on social media on Saturday.
“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,” he added.
Beyond being a powerful leader of the Odisha BJP, he has played a pivotal role in national politics. He served as the in-charge for the recent Bihar assembly elections and was instrumental in Suvendu Adhikari’s victory over Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur constituency during the West Bengal assembly elections.
After the BJP suffered a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the party failed to secure a majority on its own, Pradhan contributed significantly to the party’s win in Haryana.
Prior to this, he had played a key role in the party’s success as an in-charge in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka.
Soon after he resigned as Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah visited his residence, and top BJP leaders, including party chief Nitin Nabin and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, have endorsed the reforms Dharmendra Pradhan implemented in the education sector.
The 57-year-old Pradhan’s resignation could also impact the internal dynamics of the Odisha BJP. Apart from Jual Oram, Pradhan was the only other Cabinet minister from the state.
Pradhan holds a strong grip on the Odisha BJP.
Party sources state that the resignation will not diminish the MP’s influence in Odisha. He has played a pivotal role in the party’s expansion in the state since 2014 and its big success in the 2024 Assembly polls. A majority of the state’s 78 BJP MLAs and approximately 40 per cent of the ministers in the Odisha cabinet are considered close to him.
