{"id":958332,"date":"2026-07-25T12:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/958332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T12:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:59:20","slug":"indias-education-minister-resigns-after-weeks-of-protests-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/958332\/","title":{"rendered":"India’s education minister resigns after weeks of protests against him"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW DELHI (AP) \u2014 India\u2019s \u201cCockroach\u201d movement<\/a> called off its weeks of protests on Saturday, saying the government had accepted all of its demands after the country\u2019s education minister resigned over alleged exam paper leaks and irregularities in the education system.<\/p>\n

Dharmendra Pradhan<\/a> announced his resignation in a post on X, handing a major victory to the youth movement that spearheaded nationwide demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes. His resignation marks the first significant concession by Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government to one of the most visible waves of public dissent it has faced in recent years.<\/p>\n

The government has rarely yielded to sustained public pressure during Modi\u2019s more than 12 years in office. The most notable exception came in 2021, when it was forced to withdraw controversial farm laws<\/a> after a yearlong farmers\u2019 protest.<\/p>\n

The \u201cCockroach\u2019\u201d movement began more than a month ago after allegations of leaks in some of India\u2019s biggest entrance exams. It started as a call for education reforms but grew into a broader protest over unemployment, government accountability and economic opportunities. Students, professionals, families and activists joined rallies in New Delhi and other cities across India.<\/p>\n

Following Pradhan\u2019s resignation, movement organizers called off the protests, saying the government had accepted their remaining demands. Those included broader reforms to India\u2019s education system, compensation for families of students who died by suicide following exam paper leaks, and a commitment that no legal action would be taken against those who participated in the protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge everyone to peacefully withdraw from protest sites,\u201d Ashutosh Ranka. spokesperson of the Cockroach Janta Party,<\/a> which launched the protest movement, said at a news briefing in New Delhi.<\/p>\n

News of Pradhan\u2019s resignation sparked celebrations among the thousands of protesters who have camped at New Delhi\u2019s protest site for more than a month. Many embraced each other and waved the Indian flag.<\/p>\n

Prachi Kumar, a corporate employee who joined the protests, said Pradhan\u2019s resignation was necessary to restore accountability in the education system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis had to be done. Someone must be held accountable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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The Cockroach Janta Party<\/a> declared victory following the resignation, writing on X: \u201cDEMOCRACY WINS!\u201d<\/p>\n

The demonstrations became one of the most persistent challenges to Modi\u2019s government in recent years, with thousands returning to the streets<\/a> even after police used tear gas and batons to disperse marchers.<\/p>\n

Tensions escalated on Monday when police moved to disperse thousands of protesters marching toward Parliament. Several students were injured in the crackdown<\/a>, intensifying anger among demonstrators.<\/p>\n

Modi\u2019s government had earlier sought to ease tensions by announcing fast-track courts for cases involving exam paper leaks and saying it would introduce legislation to strengthen measures against cheating and corruption in the examination system. The measures failed to satisfy protesters, who said they did not address government accountability. <\/p>\n

Opposition parties, which rallied behind the protests, said Pradhan\u2019s resignation showed the government had bowed to sustained public pressure.<\/p>\n

Rahul Gandhi, India\u2019s main opposition leader in Parliament, called it a \u201cmajor step toward revamping our education system\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW DELHI (AP) \u2014 India\u2019s \u201cCockroach\u201d movement called off its weeks of protests on Saturday, saying the government…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":958333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[13214,248855,136834,57,1567,19720,47715,50,2062,80,402,209456,16524,103,107],"class_list":["post-958332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-asia-pacific","tag-cockroaches","tag-dharmendra-pradhan","tag-general-news","tag-india","tag-narendra-modi","tag-new-delhi","tag-news","tag-political-and-civil-unrest","tag-politics","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-rahul-gandhi","tag-south-asia","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116980742071016565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}