India’s Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has toughened its position ahead of the third round of meetings with the central government. The party claims that there is no room for discussion unless the government agrees to remove Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from the post.
CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said in a post on social media X on Saturday (25 July) morning that there will be no compromise on the demand of Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. He also commented that if the government does not accept this demand, further discussion is meaningless.
Earlier on Friday (July 24) the second round of meeting of CJP representatives with Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh was held at Delhi’s Constitution Club. The demands of the agitators were discussed in the meeting. Later on Saturday afternoon it was announced to sit for discussion again.
The three main demands of the CJP are—
1. Resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan;
2. Assurance that no legal action will be taken against agitating students;
3. 1 crore compensation to families of students who committed suicide after NEET question leak.
In Friday’s meeting, the central government agreed in principle to accept the two demands of the agitators — no legal action against the agitating students and compensation. However, there has been no agreement on the resignation of the education minister.
After the meeting, JP Nadda said, ‘There was a discussion of about two hours. Activists made three main demands and five proposals on exam reform. We have informed them, we will meet again on Saturday afternoon to discuss the issues within the government and inform our decision.’
On the other hand, government sources told NDTV that there is no possibility of Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. According to the government, resigning might be the easiest decision, but the government stands by the education minister. We will fulfill the responsibility given to us by the people.
Meanwhile, the central government has taken several steps in the last two days to prevent question leakage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the setting up of fast-track courts for speedy disposal of question-leaving cases. Besides, the government is also planning to amend the law to add stricter penalties and higher fines to the Anti-Question Leaking Act.
Apart from this, the education secretary has been transferred and 47 officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA) have been sacked. The government has also promised to reform the entire examination system soon.
However, CJP National Spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka has commented that the decision to dismiss 47 officers of NTA is not enough. He said, ‘There are still many issues to be investigated. In the end, all responsibility lies with the Minister of Education. He is directly responsible for the NEET question leak and student suicides due to it. So he must resign.’
TimesBD/ rabbi
