Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said his resignation on Saturday was not a matter of personal prestige, and that he had stepped down to stop what he called anti-national forces from exploiting the agitation over examination paper leaks.
“So that anti-national forces do not take advantage of the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, so that the unity of the country remains intact, so that the future of not a single student of India gets entangled in legal complexities, and so that our children invest their time in studying and focus on building their careers—considering all these aspects, I have submitted my resignation to the Honourable Prime Minister,” he said in a two-page note in Hindi posted on social media.
“It is not a matter of individual prestige for me,” he wrote.
Pradhan also said people holding responsible positions had tried to obstruct and mislead students during the stir. “...However, even during this period, individuals holding responsible positions tried to create obstacles in order to mislead many students, which caused me deep anguish,” he said. He named no one and did not elaborate.
Elsewhere in the note, he described the students’ expectations as legitimate. “I deeply respect the aspirations, sentiments, and legitimate expectations of the youth of the country. Fulfilling the dreams of India’s younger generation has been a moral commitment of all of us in our political and social lives.”
Defends government's handling of NEET row
Much of the rest was a defence of his handling of the NEET-UG paper leak. The government took immediate cognisance of the irregularities in the examination held on May 3, handed the investigation to the CBI, cancelled the test and announced a date for a re-examination, he added.
Also read: ‘Not a matter of personal prestige’: Dharmendra Pradhan quits over paper leaks
“Along with this, it was decided that from next year onward, this examination will be conducted in CBT (Computer-Based Test) mode. During this period, our primary priority was to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination for more than two million students. For this, work was carried out under the ‘whole of government approach’,” Pradhan said.
He thanked the PM for the opportunity to serve “under his visionary leadership”.