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‘Garlanding him as if he won war with Pakistan’: Congress slams Pradhan's felicitation in Parliament
Dharmendra Pradhan recently resigned as education minister, bending to the demands of protesting students of government accountability over exam irregularities
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday attacked the government's felicitation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Parliament, saying he was honoured "as if he had returned after fighting a war with Pakistan", even though students had suffered due to alleged examination paper leaks during his tenure.
Dharmendra Pradhan recently resigned as education minister, bending to the demands of protesting students of government accountability over exam irregularities, especially the NEET paper leaks. Track Parliament LIVE updates here
Pradhan was on Monday welcomed with loud cheers in Parliament by members of Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), giving his resignation appear like a heroic deed of sorts.
‘Fighting a war with Pakistan’
Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Gogoi said, "Twenty-one students lost their lives by suicide. Aren't you ashamed? The minister under whose tenure 21 children lost their lives resigned, but when he came to the House yesterday, you garlanded him as though he had returned after fighting a war with Pakistan. You honoured him as if he had returned victorious from the border."
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The Congress leader argued that the proposed measures would not address the root problem, contending that the existing 2024 law had already failed to prevent paper leaks. "This law had failed then, and the law that you are bringing today will also fail. This law is a monument to your failure," he said, adding that if the legislation had been effective, "how did such a massive paper leak happen again in 2026, just two years later?"
Gogoi shreds former education minister
Gogoi referred to the alleged NEET paper leak case and listed several accused who were later granted bail. "Sanjeev Mukhiya remained absconding for 11 months. The government could not arrest him for 11 months. He was finally arrested in April 2025, and later got bail," he said, before naming Ranjit Kumar Barua, Amit Kumar Singh, Pankaj Kumar and Rakesh as others who were granted bail in 2025 in connection with the alleged case.
Gogoi also targeted Pradhan's handling of the 2024 controversy, saying the then education minister had initially denied any wrongdoing.
"When the paper leak issue came up across the country in 2024, do you know what Dharmendra Pradhan said? He asked, 'Where did the paper leak happen? There was no paper leak,'" Gogoi said, alleging that "even for the first two-and-a-half months, the government's stand was that there had been no irregularities and that it had done an excellent job."
After over a month of protests, that 'Cockroach Janta Party' led from Delhi's Jantar Mantar, Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25 announced his resignation as education minister.
