In 1997, Dharmendra Pradhan, Then An ABVP Leader, Led A Student Protest Against Paper Leak In Odisha

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been in the eye of the storm over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. For more than a month now, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been protesting in New Delhi demanding Pradhan's resignation over the paper leaks controversy.

Pradhan, the BJP MP from Sambalpur in Odisha, was appointed the Education Minister in 2021, after previously holding portfolios including Petroleum, Skill Development and Steel.

As Pradhan continues to face the heat, an old news report has resurfaced, in which his colleagues recall how the current union minister once led a student protest in Odisha against alleged paper leaks.

Dharmendra Pradhan's protest against paper leak

According to a report by The New Indian Express, in 1997, when Pradhan was the National Secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), he led a protest against the Odisha government.

"We staged a protest against the Odisha government in front of the secretariat. Around 1,500 students joined us there," Prashant Rout, who was Pradhan's junior in Utkal University, told the newspaper, while recalling the paper leak in Odisha in 1997.

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According to Rout, while the protest was peaceful, the police had charged activists. "We were quite scared. Pradhan was badly beaten up that time. He had a few fractures too," he recalled.

Pradhan, the son of former BJP leader Debendra Pradhan, who served as a Minister of State in the AB Vajpayee cabinet, entered politics following in his father's footsteps.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004 from the Deogarh constituency, which was previously held by his father.

CJP insists on Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation

The CJP, which is leading the student protests against Pradhan, has insisted that nothing short of the minister's resignatio was acceptable to them.

CJP leader Ashutosh Ranka on Thursday asserted that the movement had become a nationwide campaign.

According to Ranka, the movement, which began around one-and-a-half months ago, had "awakened the whole nation" and claimed that thousands of people were still gathered outside Jantar Mantar, while millions were protesting across the country.

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"A movement started 1.5 months ago. It has awakened the whole nation. Jainism has awakened. The movement started 33 days ago. But you can see that Jantar Mantar is still full. Thousands of people are outside Jantar Mantar. Millions of people are protesting all over the country. This is a great success of the movement," he said.

Ranka said the protesters were ready for dialogue with the government but questioned why their time was being wasted when their demands were clear on July 20.

"But if they want to talk, they can come. We wanted to talk two days ago. We have wasted our time there. If they want to talk, they can come. Why are they wasting our time? Our demands are clear. We want the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan," he said.

"Will you remove him or not? You cannot suspend the Cabinet Minister. Remove him or not. What is the discussion about?" Ranka added.

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