Prime Minister Narendra Modi has posted on cricket, a Unesco heritage listing, Kargil Vijay Diwas and clips from his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’ in the 24 hours since Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister — but has said nothing about Pradhan or the resignation that ended the Cockroach Janta Party-led youth protest.
Pradhan announced his exit on X at 2.18 pm on July 25, taking responsibility for the NEET-UG paper leak in May, but insisting he was resigning so that “anti-national forces” wouldn't take advantage of the CJP protest; he also attacked the Opposition led by Rahul Gandhi, though not taking names.
In the 24 hours that followed, PM Modi made at least nine posts on his own X handle (@narendramodi). None referred to Pradhan, the resignation, or the CJP protest. A tenth post since the resignation came just before the publishing of this report, at 3:02 pm, in which he congratulated Anahat Singh for becoming the first Indian squash player ever to win the World Junior Championship title. “This accomplishment will further popularise squash among the youth,” Narendra Modi wrote.
He made the same post about Anahat Singh on Facebook, besides a ‘Mann ki Baat’ promo there as well.
{{/usCountry}}He made the same post about Anahat Singh on Facebook, besides a ‘Mann ki Baat’ promo there as well.
{{/usCountry}}The PM has made no official statement as well on the resignation or the students' protest. Other ministers have heaped praises at Pradhan over his decision to quit eventually.
The first post on Narendra Modi's personal X handle after the resignation — about two hours after the minister's post — celebrated Sarnath's inscription on the Unesco World Heritage List. The PM called it “a proud moment for every Indian” and said the recognition celebrated India's civilisational and spiritual heritage. He linked Sarnath to Lord Buddha's message of wisdom and compassion.
The remaining posts were dominated by the 136th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, broadcast on the morning of July 26, with Modi reposting several passages and clips from it. One of those promoted the Indian women's cricket team's Test win at Lord's. “A hard-earned victory is special,” the PM wrote around just after noon.
Another post marked Kargil Vijay Diwas, which falls on July 26, with Modi paying tribute to soldiers who fought in the 1999 conflict against Pakistan.
Two of the ‘Mann ki Baat’ promotional posts were reposted by Pradhan on his X handle. On the official handle of the Prime Minister's Office, there were 15 posts since Pradhan's resignation, all of them about ‘Mann ki Baat’, hosted on YouTube and elsewhere. To be sure, the episode itself carried no mention of the resignation, possibly since it may have been recorded when it had not yet happened even though the CJP protests were on for weeks.
Before the resignation
Notably, Modi had engaged directly with the protest's core issues in the days before Pradhan quit. On July 24, he had urged activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on hunger strike at the CJP protest, to heed doctors and “regain your old weight as soon as possible” after breaking his fast. Late on July 23, he had posted a selfie-style video — an informal format seen as aimed at the protest's Gen-Z base — promising stricter laws to curb paper leaks.
On Instagram, one of those videos is his last post (below).
Hours later, on July 25, Pradhan finally stepped down. Minister Pralhad Joshi got charge of the education portfolio for now.
The PM's silence on the issue, except the selfie videos, stood in contrast to a wave of tributes from within his own party. Senior BJP leaders, including home minister Amit Shah, praised Pradhan for implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and reshaping India's education framework. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Pradhan had worked towards “restoring the civilisational spirit of Bharat”. Several Union ministers and other leaders posted similar messages.
Pradhan's resignation was the principal “non-negotiable” demand of the CJP and of the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi. The government also agreed to withdraw cases against protesters injured in police action during their July 20 march towards Parliament, and to compensate the families of students who died by suicide after the paper leak. With the demands accepted, the CJP called off its protest on Saturday itself.
What comes next in Parliament?
Rahul Gandhi, who's been raising much the same demands but did not personally visit the statedly “apolitical” protest site, described the forced resignation as “a warning” from students and the Opposition to the government.
The Congress, meanwhile, has begun turning its fire on home minister Amit Shah. At a press conference on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi held Shah directly responsible for the July 20 police action against the CJP march, noting that Delhi Police reports to the Centre, and said accountability must be fixed “from the organisers of this attack to the implementers”.
With Parliament reconvening on Monday to take up an amendment bill for stricter paper-leak penalties, the Congress is pressing to shift the debate towards the crackdown.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari also faced some Gen-Z anger at the CJP protest site at Jantar Mantar, with memes and slogans asking him to step down next over the ongoing row regarding the negative effects of ethanol-blended E20 petrol on vehicles.
The Cockroach movement traced its origins to a May 15 Supreme Court hearing, during which Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked that some jobless youngsters were “like cockroaches” with no place in the legal profession. The CJP, launched as a satirical social media account by Abhijeet Dipke the day after it, adopted the term and grew into a street force. Kant later said the remark referred only to holders of fake law degrees and that sections of the media had misquoted him, but the clarification did little to slow the movement.
Speaking from the stage at Jantar Mantar minutes after Pradhan resigned, Dipke thanked the CJI. He said that had the CJI not called them cockroaches, the movement would not have started.