Former Education Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said that certain people had tried to “mislead” Gen Z during the protests related to the NEET paper-leak controversy, which ultimately resulted in his resignation. In his first public reaction after her resignation, Pradhan said that the ministerial position had never held significance for him and that he had voluntarily approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer his resignation from the Union Council of Ministers.
Pradhan made these remarks while addressing students and teachers at GM University in Bhubaneswar, exactly two weeks after resigning amid the Cockroach Janta Party-led student protests held at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over the NEET paper-leak controversy. He stepped down from the ministry on July 25.
“Gen Z is our children. Some people attempted to mislead them. I had no personal issues then. At least two crore children are born in India every year. During the last 10 years, 20 crore children were born. They have aspirations, and they will make India a ‘Vishwa Guru’. The post was not important to me,” Pradhan said.
At a separate meeting in Rairakhol, Pradhan also targeted former Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, saying that he remained unfazed by the protests staged by BJD workers and the slogans asking him “go back.”
Referring to a protest by BJD youth and student wing activists near the airport, during which slogans such as “Dharmendra Pradhan Go Back” were chanted, he remarked, “I am a farmer’s son. Even if you tell me to go back, I will come back.”
“Naveen Babu also calls me a disgrace to the people of Odisha and a bad person,” Pradhan said, accusing the BJD president of engaging youths in protests against him. “Have I ever done anything that will shame the people of Odisha?” he asked, attracting a loud response of “No” from the people gathered there.
“I may not be bringing laurels for the state, but I have never disgraced the people by my work. I will never do any work which will tarnish the state’s reputation,” he said.
Pradhan said that he had become a Union Minister 12 years earlier with the blessings of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Samaleswari, the presiding deity of Sambalpur. He directed his comments against Patnaik from a platform that was also shared by BJD MLA and deputy leader in the Odisha Assembly, Prasanna Acharya.
BJD’s Sambalpur district president and former minister Rohit Pujari responded, stating that Pradhan had faced criticism for his handling of the student protests.
“Nobody had defamed Pradhan. His party and government have defamed him by police resorting to lathi-charge, tear gas and atrocities during the peaceful student agitation at Jantar Mantar. Pradhan was facing criticism because of such incidents. I do not understand why he blames Patnaik for the police excesses on agitating students,” Pujari said.
“Why would Patnaik want to defame him? The whole country knows that 21 children died by suicide because of him. Of the 22 lakh students who appeared for the examination, around 21 lakh students must be under depression. Nobody needs to defame him; he has defamed himself,” the BJD leader claimed. Pujari said it was the BJP government’s “wrong policy” that had brought a bad name to Pradhan.
