Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has submitted his resignation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Pradhan announced his decision on his X handle just hours before the third round of talks between the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the Centre, reports NDTV.
His resignation had been the principal demand of protesters who have been staging a sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for more than a month.
Negotiations between the CJP and the Centre had remained deadlocked over the demand for Pradhan’s resignation.
Earlier on Saturday, the CJP reiterated that there could be no discussions if the government refused to remove Pradhan from office.
The government had previously sought time until Saturday afternoon to decide on Pradhan’s removal following a second round of high-level talks with Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh.
While the Centre had “in-principle” accepted two other key CJP demands – compensation for families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide and an assurance of no legal action against student protesters, the issue of the minister’s resignation remained a “non-negotiable” flashpoint.
CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka had warned that the party would not proceed with further dialogue unless the demand for Pradhan’s departure was met, asserting that ultimate accountability for the NEET-UG paper leak rested with him.
Prior to the resignation, government sources had indicated that Pradhan was unlikely to step down, with the administration claiming it “stood with the minister”. Modi had instead focused on systemic reforms, including establishing fast-track courts and proposing tougher penalties for paper leaks.
Although the government had already dismissed 47 National Testing Agency (NTA) officials and replaced the education secretary, the CJP dismissed these measures as insufficient.
