Sea of youth at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park to celebrate Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation
A massive crowd of youth waving the national flag and holding posters of the Constitution gathered at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Sunday (July 26
A massive crowd of youth waving the national flag and holding posters of the Constitution gathered at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Sunday (July 26, 2026) to celebrate the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. Despite light rains since morning, the youth in raincoats and under umbrellas carried posters of B. R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, along with creative social media memes that had gone viral during the nationwide protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The youth, mostly college students, walked to Shivaji Park from Dadar station from different parts of the city and neighbouring areas.
Pradhan resigned on Saturday (July 25), following which the Cockroach Janta Party called off its 36-day agitation that galvanised lakhs of people over irregularities in exams and the NEET paper leak. A group of participants in the gathering said they have come to Shivaji Park to show solidarity with the protesters. “This is a victory of democracy,” they said. Another student said she has come to pay tribute to "21 NEET aspirants" who had died after the NEET-UG paper leak. A young boy said one resignation is not enough and that a complete overhaul of the education system is necessary.
“The minister has resigned, but the government doesn’t want to give us credit for our victory,” he said. Earlier, protests were held at Shivaji Park, Dadar, and Chembur areas in Mumbai for the last few days to protest the police action against students in Delhi on July 22. Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had visited Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to support the CJP. Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray visited Shivaji Park a few days back and called upon students to participate in a protest on July 26.
After Mr. Pradhan quit on Saturday (July 26, 2026), the Thackerays said the 'Tiranga' gathering will go on as scheduled on Sunday (July 26, 2026) to thank the youth of the country. The joint 'Tiranga' march is organised by Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, in support of students and Cockroach Janta Party supporters.
The BriefWire