India
oi-Swastika Sruti
Dharmendra Pradhan is having a Dejavu. We can say that he feels exactly how the CJP protesters are feeling today.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who led a student protest against an alleged paper leak in Odisha in 1977, now faces similar demands for resignation over NEET UG 2026 exam irregularities. The government is prepared for a parliamentary discussion on the issue.
Confused? It is because Dharmendra Pradhan in his student era also took an active part in a mass protest against an alleged paper leak in 1977 in Odisha – in the Congress government. Ahead of entering national politics, he was an active student leader who led demonstrations demanding accountability from the then Congress government in 1977.
A Student Leader Who Took To The Streets
In 1977, Odisha was under the Congress government led by then Chief Minister Janaki Ballah Patnaik. An alleged examination paper leak had triggered anger among students, with nearly 1,500 of them gathering outside the state secretariat in Bhubaneswar to protest.
Among the protesters was a young Dharmendra Pradhan, who was then serving as the National Secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student organisation affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Based on the 2021 report by The New Indian Express, Dharmendra Pradhan had become actively involved in student politics at the age of 18 and quickly emerged as one of the prominent organisers within the ABVP.
He studied Anthropology at Utkal University and served two terms as the ABVP’s National Secretary between 1994 and 1997.
Protest Turned Violent
The demonstration reportedly began peacefully but later turned tense when police intervened to disperse the crowd. According to The New Indian Express, Prashant Rout, now Principal of RMD Degree College in Bhubaneswar and Pradhan’s junior at Utkal University, recalled the incident in detail.
He said that about 1,500 students had gathered outside the state secretariat to protest against the alleged paper leak. And even then the police used police force to dismiss the protesters in which Pradhan was also badly beaten and even suffered fractures.
From Student Activist To Union Minister
A big irony as in 1977 protest became one of the defining moments in Pradhan’s political journey. Soon after his years in student politics, he formally entered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gradually rose through the party’s organisational ranks. In 2021, he took charge as Union Education Minister.
Why The 1997 Protest Is Being Discussed Again
Dejavvu ? Why not… as after almost 49 years the old protest is being discussed as today the Education minister is none other than Dharmendra Pradhan and the mass CJP protest including the oppositions are now demanding his resignation over alleged NEET UG 2026 exam irregularities.
The issue has become politically significant because the minister now finds himself facing demands over an examination controversy similar to the one he protested against as a student leader nearly 30 years ago.
Union Health Minister and BJP president J.P. Nadda has said the government is fully prepared to discuss the NEET issue in Parliament.
