India education minister resigns after youth-led exam leak protests

Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on July 25 after weeks of youth-led protests over alleged exam paper leaks, and the Cockroach Janta Party called off its agitation hours later. The satirical movement had put the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, or NEET, at the center of its campaign, turning student anger into the first major concession from Narendra Modi's government.

Pressure had escalated sharply in New Delhi late on July 22, when protesters demanding Pradhan’s resignation clashed briefly with Delhi Police. Officers fired tear gas and used canes to push the crowd back, underscoring how far the agitation had moved beyond campus grievance and into street confrontation.

By July 24, protest leaders said the government had asked for time until Saturday on the demand that the minister go. That delay did not hold. Within a day, Pradhan had stepped down, closing a standoff that had widened as the exam-leak controversy spread across India.

The CJP had spent weeks building that pressure at Jantar Mantar. More than 7,000 people took part in its June 6 protest there, and founder Abhijeet Dipke said the agitation would continue until Union Minister Pradhan resigned. Earlier stages of the movement included a campout and an indefinite protest, giving the campaign unusual staying power for a group whose name and style were openly satirical.

The resignation also landed after the issue spilled into national politics. Opposition lawmakers disrupted parliament on July 22 to back the student protest over exam leaks, putting the education ministry under sharper scrutiny. The episode showed how allegations surrounding the NEET entrance test, which determines access to medical school, had become enough to force a cabinet-level retreat.