Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet on Saturday, amid nationwide protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over examination paper leaks.
Pradhan announced his resignation in a post on X. "Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of this situation ... I have sent my resignation letter to the Prime Minister," he wrote in Hindi.
Pradhan’s resignation triggered jubilation at Jantar Mantar, where activist Sonam Wangchuk began an indefinite fast earlier this month and which had led a nationwide demand for the minister's resignation. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced his resignation from the stage at Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi.
“Kya kehte the, is sarkaar mein mantri istefe nahi dete,” Dipke said amid celebrations on and off the stage.
Dipke was perhaps referring to a 2015 statement by a senior BJP leader and Pradhan’s cabinet colleague, who told the media, “ministers don't resign in the NDA government.”
MJ Akbar and the MeToo movement
Pradhan’s resignation is awaiting PM Modi’s acceptance. But his decision has brought back memories of 2018, when another minister in the Modi government resigned amid public pressure. Journalist-turned-politician MJ Akbar, who was then Union Minister of State for External Affairs, had resigned in October 2018, days after he was publicly accused of sexual harassment during the MeToo movement
"Since I have decided to seek justice in a court of law in my personal capacity, I deem it appropriate to step down from office and challenge false allegations levied against me, also in a personal capacity,” Akbar said in the resignation letter.
Akbar, then 67, was among the most high-profile personalities named during a wave of sexual misconduct allegations that swept through India’s media and entertainment industries, in what was widely described as the country’s #MeToo moment.
Suresh Prabhu, the railway minister
A year before Akbar, Suresh Prabhu, another colleague in Modi’s cabinet, offered to resign as Union Minister of Railways on 23 August 2017. Prabhu took full moral responsibility for the back-to-back train derailments in Uttar Pradesh, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to wait
Prabhu was later moved out of the Ministry of Railways during a subsequent cabinet reshuffle in September 2017 and was reassigned as the Minister of Commerce and Industry between 2017 and 2019.
Modi became PM for the first time in 2014. There have been resignations by Ministers before that. In the UPA era, Shivraj Patil quit as the Union Home Minister after the26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of this situation ... I have sent my resignation letter to the Prime Minister.
Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister in 2001, and had offered to resign after a number of train accidents. However, PM Vajpayee did not accept her resignation.
Nitish Kumar, also resigned as India's Railway Minister in the NDA government headed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee over railway accidents in 1999.
