BY SANJEEB KUMAR SAHOO
Before discussing who and what was said following Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on July 25, I would like to point out that the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” appears to have originated from then-US President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863), which I wrote on July 20 at 7:27 p.m. in my tweets.
On July 20, I added Abraham Lincoln’s words to my tweets, and on July 25, I heard from a former chief minister who posted a video on social media shortly after Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, which boosted my confidence and allowed me to believe in my writing skills and understanding of political writing. And believe me, I am on cloud nine after Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to demonstrators’ demands.
And believe me. If Narendra Modi had not accepted protesters’ demands, protesters would have brought down the Narendra Modi government if he had not fulfilled their demands, because the protest was not only going on at Jantar Mantar, but it was expanding across the nation and showing anger against the Narendra Modi government due to their stubborn attitudes for not listening to their demands despite continuing to request through protests that began on June 20, as a government means a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Well, on July 24, all news channels reported that Dharmendra Pradhan would not resign, and all news channels flashed the name “Sources: Dharmendra Pradhan will not resign” on their news screens, because I don’t trust any sources unless they have confirmation from highly reliable people.
So the crux of the story is that I did not run a story saying that Dharmendra Pradhan would not resign like others did; instead, I ran a story on July 24 through the National Political Mirror news portal and tweeted that if Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan did not step down or resign, protesters would demand the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the resignation of other ministers.
So, after reading my tales and viewing recordings on social media, I believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi anticipated an increase in the number of demonstrators at the Jantar Mantar protest against his government on July 25, which was a Saturday and a public holiday.
Therefore, Narendra Modi may have ordered Dharmendra Pradhan to step down from his position as education minister for the time being. So, I believe Dharmendra Pradhan accepted Narendra Modi’s request without hesitation because Modi is known to reward people who accept his words without reservation.
It was 1:48 p.m. on July 25 when news broke that Dharmendra Pradhan had resigned, but I didn’t believe it because on July 24 corporate media houses reported that “Sources: Dharmendra Pradhan will not resign,” so I went to Dharmendra Pradhan’s Twitter account (now X account), where I found Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation announcement from the Union Council of Ministers as Union Education Minister, taking moral responsibility for the controversy and paper leaks surrounding the NEET-UG examination.
So, on behalf of protesters, I would like to offer my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for giving up its stubborn stance and accepting protesters’ demands since Narendra Modi was able to secure the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
No PR can restore the bridge that was damaged
And due to the stubborn attitudes of the Narendra Modi government between July 20 and July 24, no multimillion-dollar public relations (PR) agency can rebuild the reputation of the BJP-led Narendra Modi government that it had before July 24 because someone rightly said that if you lose money, you lose nothing; if you lose health, you lose something; but if you lose character, trust and credibility, you lose everything, as the Narendra Modi government lost the trust and credibility of people.
And I am stating that because of their stubborn attitudes between July 20 and July 24, many people in the 15–40 age range nationwide used slang language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a result, videos of young people between the ages of 15 and 20 were posted on social media and YouTube, where they expressed their admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. And believe me, people will watch and listen to videos from July 20 to July 24 repeatedly if anyone tries to commend this government in the days ahead.
And after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from the Narendra Modi government and the government agreed to two protesters’ demands (which I will mention in the following paragraphs), protesters celebrated as if they had accomplished something significant in their lives, and I witnessed their happiness at Jantar Mantar because I was there until 1 am, the middle of the night.
And believe me, the crowds were the same on July 25th night as they were between July 20 and July 24, and about five to seven lakhs visited the protest site in Jantar Mantar the whole day after Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation and made their presence or became witnesses of the historic day, which is July 25, as protesters broke the stubborn attitudes of the Narendra Modi government, and 25 will always be remembered in history when anyone talks about people of movement or any protest.
Beginning in the middle of the night at 2 a.m., protesters gradually began to leave Jantar Mantar for their homes, but many remained until 4 a.m. to celebrate their victory at Jantar Mantar over the Narendra Modi government.
And if Prime Minister Narendar Modi had fired Dharmendra Pradhan or asked him to resign when demonstrators were merely calling for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as education minister, the situation would not have reached the point where young people between the ages of 15 and 40 were using slang language against him, protesting across the country, and displaying anger against the Narendar Modi government.
However, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and his government’s reputations had been severely harmed, Narendra Modi asked Dharmendra Pradhan to resign on July 25 in the evening, and Dharmendra Pradhan then sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, further damaging Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and his government’s reputations. However, one positive outcome of his departure is that people are now more aware and can review or check each union minister’s last 12 years’ accounts whenever they need to.
If Dharamendr Pradhan hadn’t resigned on July 25, protestors would have demanded the resignations of Prime Minister Narendar Modi and other union ministers as well. This is because I heard their demands at Jantar Mantar, where I continued to visit until two in the morning on July 20 and July 24. I also visited Jantar Mantar prior to July 24, but I only spent a few minutes with protestors.
Protest ended after..
And tomorrow is Monday. I continued to visit the protest site, Jantar Mantar, from July 20 to July 25. Since July 20 was also a Monday, three rounds of discussions with Narendra Modi government representatives were held between student representatives led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). As a result, the 45 days long protest came to an end at 5:30 p.m. on July 25 due to a joint government-CJP press conference at Constitutional Club in New Delhi.
Interestingly, activist Sonam Wangchuk, who ended his 26-day indefinite hunger strike on July 23, 2026, to protect young protesters from legal action and to prevent potential violence, was not there, as two senior union ministers, Jitendra Singh and JP Nadda, from the government side and CJP’s Saurav Dad and Ranka from the protesters’ side were at the press conference, and after three rounds of discussion between them and the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the 45-long-day protest came to an end at 5:30 p.m. on July 25, 2026.
Abhijeet Dipke, a Boston University graduate who just returned to India to spearhead the protest over paper leaks, founded the CJP. On June 20, Abhijeet Dipke formally started the overnight, indefinite sit-in protest, calling for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign due to competitive exam leaks. However, on June 6, an offline demonstration was held there.
Finally, I would like to conclude by stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have officially accepted three core demands to end the 45-day nationwide Jantar protest. The first is the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who submitted his resignation on July 25.
Second, the Narendra Modi government has decided to withdraw all FIRs and police cases against student protesters. Third, the Narendra Modi government has pledged to provide the highest amount of compensation to the families of students who committed suicide during the crisis.
