New Delhi: Dharmendra Pradhan has become the first cabinet minister under the Narendra Modi government to resign under sustained public pressure and nationwide protests.Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday (July 25) came just five days after the Delhi Police unleashed brute force on protesters who had responded to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s Sansad Chalo march call on July 20. Instead of deterring protesters, crowds only swelled at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in its aftermath, and quickly spread to other parts of the country. The chorus for Pradhan’s exit due to repeated exam paper leaks, and concerns about the lack of accountability under Prime Minister Modi, only grew louder. The opposition too kept up the pressure, both inside and outside parliament, taking to the streets and demanding Pradhan’s ouster.Yet Pradhan’s resignation announcement, which he posted on X on Saturday afternoon, makes no mention of this nationwide outrage that forced his exit.Pradhan sidestepped the immediate trigger that had brought the youth to the streets. While he wrote a page and a half on how he had devoted four decades to education and how the government had acted swiftly after the NEET-UG paper leak in May, he left out any mention of the slew of irregularities in competitive exams in the last two years alone. He also made no mention of the irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)’s online marking system that came to light in May after they were amplified by the work of teenagers that shed light on it.Instead he claimed that his exit was so that “anti-national forces” don’t take advantage of the situation in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and elsewhere in the country, national unity is maintained and children can focus on building their career.‘Devoted four decades to education, some individuals misled students’In his resignation note, Pradhan wrote that for four decades he had devoted himself to students and educational reforms, and then said that despite the NEET-UG paper leak in May, the government acted quickly, handed the investigation to the CBI, and promised to conduct the exam through Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode, following which the re-exam was held in June, and results were declared in July.Pradhan’s letter blamed some individuals for attempting to “mislead students and create obstacles”.“From the very first day, I accepted responsibility and never distanced myself from the situation. I was determined that no deserving student’s future should be harmed because of an examination mafia, and that no student should face injustice,” he wrote in his resignation letter.“The NEET-UG results declared on 16 July were satisfactory, with many meritorious students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds also achieving success. However, during this period, some individuals holding responsible positions attempted to mislead students and create obstacles, which caused me deep anguish.”Also read: Control Over Education Is Critical for the RSS. The Sacking of Pradhan Is a Major Setback for ItPradhan wrote that the “events of the past ten days have saddened” him and for him “this is not a matter of personal prestige” before going on to justify his resignation in the garb of efforts to ensure “anti-national” forces not taking advantage.“It is my resolve that I will not allow the youth of this country to become trapped in confusion and deception. Considering the situation at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere in the country, and so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of the circumstances, national unity is maintained, no student’s future gets entangled in legal complications, and our children can focus on their studies and building their careers, I have submitted my resignation to the Hon’ble Prime Minister,” his note said.What the letter did not say on paper leaksWhile Pradhan said that he was resigning despite the steps taken by his government in the last two and a half months, he made no mention of the irregularities in successive exams that had bolstered youth anger and made them hit the streets.Pradhan’s note ignored the fact that a parliamentary standing committee report had said in December 2025, that in the year 2024 alone of the 14 competitive exams conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), five faced issues due to which the tests had to be postponed, one saw a paper leak, and another saw its results postponed.“It has been brought to the notice of the Committee that in the 3 year 2024 alone, of the 14 competitive examinations conducted by the NTA, at least five faced major issues and as result, three examinations viz. UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG had to be postponed, one examination viz. NEET-UG saw instances of paper leaks, and one examination i.e CUET ( UG/PG) saw its results postponed,” the Committee has said in its report.The NTA, which was established in 2018, has the mandate of conducting major examinations including the JEE (Main) for admission to undergraduate engineering programmes in the NITs and other prestigious engineering institutions and the NEET-UG for undergraduate medical college admissions.Also read: Before We Move On From Jantar Mantar, Remember the Past Decade of Student ResistanceWhile the NEET-UG exam was cancelled in May this year due to a paper leak, Pradhan in his resignation letter also made no mention of the fact that just in June 2024 the UGC-NET exam was cancelled following which Pradhan himself had said that the exam was cancelled as the original question paper was found on the Dark Net.The same year, irregularities were reported in the NEET-UG exam held in May that year.Just in May this year, days after the NEET-UG paper leak, Pradhan dismissed the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee report and said it cannot be accepted as they include members of the opposition.CBSE OMS IrregularitiesWhile the NEET-UG paper leak in May had triggered anger, the protests also saw young students coming to the protest after the the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system came under fire in May for technical glitches, security vulnerabilities and marking irregularities.While over 85% candidates cleared the exams, overall, the pass rate dipped by over three percentage points compared to the previous year. The government has informed Rajya Sabha this week that of the 17.69 lakh students who appeared for the CBSE, nearly 4.04 lakh or 22.8% chose re-evaluation.It was teenagers like ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary who brought attention to the portal’s vulnerabilities, the work of Sarthak Sidhant who looked at the questionable tendering process, and the initial flagging of discrepancies by Vedant Shrivastava that were crucial in holding the board to account.While Pradhan had said he took responsibility for the discrepancies he also defended the system calling it “student-centric and designed for the benefit of students.”In June, the CBSE was forced to move the re-evaluation process for class 12 answer scripts away from the platform operated by Hyderabad-based Coempt Eduteck Pvt Ltd and onto infrastructure controlled by the board, amid concerns over the security of the vendor’s OSM system.