India
oi-Ashish Rana
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the central government never tried to stop the student protest which started over the NEET paper leak, she described the protest as the natural part of democracy. While speaking at the Business Leadership Award 2026, Nirmala Sitharaman said that Students have every single right to stand something if they believe anything wrong. She also said that government also should listen to them and respond with their concerns.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman views student protests over the NEET paper leak as a natural democratic process, affirming students’ right to protest and the government’s duty to listen to their concerns.
Sitharaman Defends Students’ Right to Protest
Sitharaman was asked has this protest caught the government off guard, she said that she respect the energy and commitment shown by the young generation.
“Well, I’m not undermining their energy. But the young in every generation join protests,” she said.
While recalling her own time at JNU Delhi as student, she said, “I’m not undermining what happened in the last couple of weeks. You rightly recalled that when I was in JNU and I’m sure generations before me and generations after us will still do it, the young get very touched by things which are not ideal.”
Government Should Listen, Says Finance Minister
The Finance Minister also said that government is bound to respond and act quicky if they broke the trust of public.
“They want good, responsive, correct measures, timely measures and that’s only right. And therefore they tend to protest because they think they should make the difference and I’m happy for it because that’s the spirit of the young. I have no second opinion on that,” she said.
She also said that the people in power has responsibility to understand the concerns which led to this protest and respond it to correctly.
“But the difference lies when you’re ready to understand where they come from and respond accordingly. I’m happy to say this is a legacy of every generation when it is young and it happens in every country… We have to keep our ears closer to the ground so that we hear and understand what’s going on,” she added.
CJP Ends Protest After Dharmendra Pradhan’s Resignation
Nirmala Sitharaman responded to this a day after Former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation on social media citing to prevent ‘anti-national elements’. Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation was one of the major condition of the protest led by Cockroach Janata Party.
Initially started at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, the protest took a turn into nation-wide protest after a march to Parliament on last Monday turned violent. CJP announced a march towards parliament on 19 July after the Delhi Police arrested Sonam Wangchuk from the stage of CJP at Jantar Mantar and admitted him in Safdarjung Hospital.
