Pradhan offered to resign on day one of NEET agitation: MP minister Vijayvargiya

Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has claimed that Dharmendra Pradhan had expressed his willingness to resign as Union Education Minister on the very first day of the student agitation over alleged examination irregularities and the NEET paper leak.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Vijayvargiya said Pradhan had informed the BJP president that he was prepared to step down if the party considered it necessary. However, according to the minister, the party leadership asked him not to resign or discuss the matter until a formal decision was taken.

“Pradhan had told the BJP president on the very first day of the agitation that if the party felt his resignation was necessary, he was ready to quit. The party president advised him to wait, saying no decision had been taken and asked him not to submit his resignation or speak about it publicly,” Vijayvargiya said.

He added that once the party leadership decided Pradhan should step down, the former Education Minister resigned immediately. Vijayvargiya said Pradhan had carried out every responsibility entrusted to him with honesty and dedication. He also claimed that the resignation had “foiled the designs of foreign forces” that allegedly wanted to destabilise India through violence, drawing comparisons with developments in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Pradhan resigned on Saturday, following which the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) called off its 36-day agitation that had mobilised lakhs of students and supporters over alleged irregularities in examinations and the NEET paper leak.

Targeting the Congress over its reaction to the resignation, Vijayvargiya said the party was celebrating despite having played no significant role in the agitation. Using a Hindi proverb, he remarked that the Congress was “beating drums over the birth of a child in a neighbour’s house”. He alleged that the student movement was led by students themselves and that the Congress merely extended support from the sidelines. He also questioned whether any Congress leader had faced police action during the protests.

Responding to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had acted like “termites” and hollowed out the country’s education system, Vijayvargiya criticised the Congress leader’s comments. He said Gandhi still needed to understand the RSS and asserted that the organisation had made a significant contribution to nation-building. He added that the country was moving in the right direction and credited the RSS for its role in that progress.