Breaking his silence two weeks after leaving the Union Council of Ministers, Pradhan said the aspirations of young people mattered more than his position in government. He made the remarks on Saturday while addressing students and teachers at GM University in Bhubaneswar.
Pradhan said he had approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered his resignation as the agitation intensified. He stepped down on July 25 after weeks of protests demanding accountability over the NEET-UG examination controversy and wider concerns about the management of competitive examinations.
“Gen Z is our children. Some people attempted to mislead them. I had no personal issues then,” Pradhan said. He argued that young people entering adulthood had ambitions that political leaders could not afford to disregard.
The former minister said roughly 20 crore people had entered the younger age cohort over the past decade and suggested their collective determination could outweigh the authority attached to a ministerial office. He said he had conveyed the scale of their aspirations to Modi and believed the interests of the country had to take precedence over an individual position.
His comments mark a notable shift from the political confrontation that surrounded the protests. Demonstrations intensified after the NEET-UG 2026 examination results were invalidated for about two million candidates following the discovery that examination questions had been leaked. The controversy tapped into broader frustration over repeated irregularities in highly competitive entrance and recruitment examinations.
The protests were spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, a youth-driven movement that began as an online satirical campaign before developing into a wider mobilisation over examination integrity, employment prospects and government accountability. Its demand for Pradhan’s resignation became a central feature of demonstrations in Delhi and other cities.
Tensions peaked around Jantar Mantar as thousands of protesters gathered and attempted to march towards Parliament. Police used batons and other crowd-control measures during confrontations with demonstrators. Delhi Police maintained that its personnel acted professionally, while saying 118 officers were injured during clashes on July 20. Estimates cited during the agitation put participation in that day’s mobilisation at more than 50,000.
Pradhan’s resignation became one of the most significant concessions secured by the movement. Organisers subsequently ended their protest after saying the government had accepted their demands, which included wider examination reforms, assistance for families affected by exam-related suicides and assurances concerning cases against demonstrators.
The government has also moved to strengthen measures against examination leaks and announced steps to review the testing system. The episode has sharpened political attention on younger voters, with the BJP expanding outreach through social-media formats aimed at Gen Z after the agitation demonstrated the capacity of digitally organised groups to mobilise beyond traditional party structures.
Pradhan also used his Odisha appearances to respond to criticism from the Biju Janata Dal. At a separate meeting in Rairakhol, he accused BJD president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik of encouraging protests against him.
BJD youth and student activists had demonstrated against Pradhan and raised slogans asking him to “go back”. Pradhan said such protests would not prevent him from returning to Odisha, describing himself as a farmer’s son and rejecting suggestions that his conduct had brought disrepute to the state.
(IPA Service)
