Is Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation in zone of consideration?
The Modi government has projected a hard image — its ministers don't resign under pressure from the Opposition. The only way they go is through
The Modi government has projected a hard image — its ministers don't resign under pressure from the Opposition. The only way they go is through a Cabinet reshuffle. Despite intensifying protests, the government is maintaining that. However, for the first time, it seems the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is in the zone of consideration. That was the demand with which the early members of the Abhijeet Dipke-founded Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) pitched their tents at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on June 6. They demanded Pradhan's resignation over the NEET-UG question paper leak. Read Full Story Activist Sonam Wangchuk gave an impetus to the protest and started an indefinite hunger strike pressing for Pradhan's resignation. Days turned into weeks, but the government sent across the message that it wouldn't even consider the issue. The protesters dug in their heels too. But Wangchuk was removed from the CJP's protest site at Jantar Mantar by force and taken to a hospital on concerns over his health. On Wednesday, after a visit from ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh, Wangchuk said he would be ending his fast.
What was noteworthy was that Wangchuk had dropped Pradhan's resignation as a precondition to end the hunger strike. But a police crackdown on people marching to Parliament on July 20, on a call given by Wangchuk, changed everything. After videos of brutal police action went viral, tens of thousands of protesters descended upon Jantar Mantar. What the government might have thought of ending with an end of Wangchuk's fast gained new momentum. Jantar Mantar and the wider Connaught Place have been virtually under protesters' siege since July 21. The protesters said they wouldn't budge from their demand for Pradhan's resignation. On Friday, JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met CJP's representatives Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das at the Constitution Club to help end the stalemate. The meeting continued for two hours. Emerging from the meeting, Ranka said that the ministers had sought time till Saturday on the demand of Pradhan's resignation. "The government has asked for time till tomorrow afternoon on our demand for Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. We hope the govt will remove him soon," Ranka told reporters. "The government has expressed in-principle approval of the two demands of compensation (for families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide) and withdrawal of FIRs, legal cases on students," he further said.
CJP's Chief Spokesperson Saurav Das said Pradhan's resignation was "non-negotiable". "We told them [the ministers] that this [Pradhan's resignation] is non-negotiable... The entire country, wherever these protests are taking place, has a single-point demand: Dharmendra Pradhan must accept accountability and resign or be removed from the Cabinet. There is no room for negotiation on this," Das said. Government sources, however, told India Today TV later on Friday that "there was no question" of Pradhan resigning. However, Ranka's remarks on the ministers' reaction reveal that this is the closest that Pradhan's resignation might have come to consideration, or even being acknowledged. "The government has told us that it will speak to its top leadership [on the issue of Pradhan's resignation] and get back to us tomorrow at 3.30 pm," said Das. "We also told the ministers that if we don't see any movement towards a resolution by tomorrow, then either tomorrow or the day after, we will give a nationwide call for an even bigger protest than the one on July 20 to continue this movement," Das added. CJP founder Dipke, while speaking to India Today TV on Friday, said that if Pradhan doesn't resign, protesters might escalate their demand.
The BriefWire