Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday backed the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) decision to introduce the 1975–77 National Emergency into the Class 9 Social Science syllabus, saying future generations must understand the “dark deeds of that period”.
The topic has been integrated into Chapter 6 of the textbook, Understanding Society: India and Beyond. It frames the Emergency not as an isolated historical event, but as “one of the major challenges” to Indian democracy, detailing the suspension of fundamental rights, press censorship, and the mass arrest of opposition leaders under the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a BJP programme in Chandigarh to mark the 51st anniversary of the Emergency’s imposition on June 25, 1975, Pradhan said: “The NCERT has done the right thing. Future generations should know and understand the dark deeds of the Emergency.”
Demands Punjab CM’s resignation
Turning his attention to Punjab politics, Pradhan said chief minister Bhagwant Mann should resign on moral grounds over the ongoing viral video controversy. The minister described the matter as “deeply religious in nature” and asserted that the issue “went beyond politics.”
The row centres on a viral video allegedly showing sacrilegious conduct regarding images of Sikh Gurus. The Aam Aadmi Party leader has rejected the allegations, maintaining that the video is a deepfake generated by a political nexus of the BJP, Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal to defame him. He said that independent forensic verification cleared him, though police investigations are ongoing into an alleged cash-for-report deal linked to a private lab.
{{/usCountry}}The row centres on a viral video allegedly showing sacrilegious conduct regarding images of Sikh Gurus. The Aam Aadmi Party leader has rejected the allegations, maintaining that the video is a deepfake generated by a political nexus of the BJP, Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal to defame him. He said that independent forensic verification cleared him, though police investigations are ongoing into an alleged cash-for-report deal linked to a private lab.
{{/usCountry}}NEET UG fallout, group protests
The education minister addressed the recent medical entrance exam issue, declaring that the NEET-UG re-examination on June 21 had been successfully conducted for 20 lakh candidates, despite attempts by vested interests to undermine the sanctity of the test. The initial May 3 exam, attempted by over 22 lakh aspirants, was cancelled on May 12 following an inquiry into the question paper leak.
Minutes before Pradhan’s arrival at the Sector 18 venue, a group of demonstrators gathered nearby, raising slogans demanding his resignation over the paper leak scandal. Pradhan specifically dismissed the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)—a youth-led satirical protest movement that has launched an ongoing sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The group has placed his resignation at the centre of its demands following recent student suicides related to exam stress. Pradhan described the outfit as a front operating as a “B-team of disruptive elements,” adding that he paid no heed to them.