Pradhan must go: CJP to Centre
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Friday told the government that its de mand for Education Minis ter Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation is non-negotia ble and asked for a public apology to the protesting students who were ‘brutal ly thrashed’ on July 20. In a meeting with Union ministers J P Nadda and Ji tendra Singh, the CJP also demanded Rs 1 crore com pensation for the families of those who committed suicide after the cancella tion of the NEET test on May 3, its spokesperson Saurav Das said. The two-hour meeting held at the Vithalbhai Patel House was aimed at find ing an amicable solution to protests over the NEET pa per leak and other irregu larities in the exam system. Nadda said the ministers heard their demands and conveyed that they will get back to the CJP. “We will again meet on Saturday,” he said.
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“We told Union ministers that our demand for the resig nation of Dharmendra Pradhan is non-negotiable,” Das told reporters after the meeting. The CJP, which has been spearheading the protests that started at Jantar Mantar on June 20, was also represented by its spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka. Besides the demand for Rs 1 crore compensation for families of suicide victims, Das said the CJP is also asking that FIRs against protesters should be withdrawn. In a letter to the government, the CJP spelt out its stand. It acknowledged the “government’s eagerness to find a mutually beneficial solution” and said, “Over the last few days, we have held extensive consultations with support ers and members across the country and protesters at Jantar Mantar. We have arrived at a clear consensus that our demands, namely the resignation of Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, Rs 1 crore compensation for NEET victims, and no legal action against protestors, are non-negotiable.” “Furthermore, the Government of India, the head of the Rapid Action Force, and the Delhi Police Commissioner ought to publicly apologise to the students who were bru tally thrashed by their forces,” it said.
The organisation also requested that the demands be accepted at the earliest. If not, the movement would only grow bigger and spread across the country, it said. “Further, we would appreciate the government’s re sponse to our five-point demand charter on examination reforms. The charter will prove critical in bringing about the larger structural reforms needed in the education sys tem,” the letter stated. This was the third official meeting between the CJP and the government. Nadda held two back-to-back meetings with Das and Ranka on July 20 at the minister’s residence. That was the day thousands of protesters responded to the call ‘Sansad Chalo’ and began marching towards Parliament only to be pushed back by police batons and teargas. Scores of peo ple were injured. Friday’s meeting took place hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thurs day night following government assurances on his key demands.
Mumbai joins the chorus
Thousands of protesters converged in Dadar area here on Friday under the banner of Shiv Sena (UBT) to seek Un ion minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the NEET paper leak, with party leader Aaditya Thac keray saying he has urged CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke not to return until the de mand is met. Mumbai Police faced a fresh onslaught of criticism after a video showing an official allegedly handling a woman activist inappropri ately went viral. While po lice claimed that his action was being “misinterpreted”, the Opposition demanded his immediate suspension. Holding tricolours and placards in their hands, thousands of students and activists gathered at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Dadar area as part of a ‘Tiranga Morcha’ (proces sion) organised by the Ud dhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT). The protest culminat ed with the playing of the national anthem.
Even an hour after the march ended, the air reverberat ed with the sounds of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. Speaking before the gathering, Uddhav Thackeray said while the government has the power of ‘lathis’ (batons), the protesters have ‘tirangas’ (tricolours) in their hands. The participants raised slogans of “Azaadi (freedom) from dictatorship and paper leaks” with the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ being played in the background. Some of them carried the posters of Bhagat Singh and Dr B R Ambedkar. “This is ‘jan ki baat’ (voice of people) and Delhi has tolisten to it. The way students were attacked, tear-gassed, I am warning the government — you can have lathis, but we have tirangas. Let’s see who wins,” said Uddhav Thackeray, a former Maharashtra chief minister. Aaditya Thackeray said though activist Sonam Wang chuk had ended his indefinite hunger strike, the protest would continue. He called Dipke and asked him not to return home in Maharashtra until Education Minister Pradhan resigned, he said, while asking the youth to freely hold protests at Shivaji Park irrespective of the police’s action. Echoing a slogan shouted by protesters, Aaditya said whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets scared, he talks about Hindu-Muslims and religion. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Amit Thac keray, son of party chief Raj Thackeray, said the govern ment was on the backfoot due to the “GenZ” protests.
Meanwhile, police, who are already facing flak over a po lice driver threatening student agitators that they would be implicated in a false drug case if they continued to take part in the ongoing protests, landed in another contro versy when a video showed a plainclothes officer alleg edly handling a female protester inappropriately during a demonstration. Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal alleged that the “police raj” under the BJP-led Mahayuti government was a blot on the state’s reputation, and ac cused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the Home department, of acting like ‘Duryodhana’. The incident apparently occurred earlier this week dur ing demonstrations at Shivaji Park. Mumbai Police, however, denied that the official’s inten tions were wrong. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Op erations) Akbar Pathan said that senior officers minutely examined the footage. “The official was trying to hold on to a male protester, and a lady stepped in while he was looking away. Senior officers have verified all the facts and minutely assessed the video to ascertain the facts,” Pathan said. No case has been registered so far. The clarification came after Opposition leaders shared the video on social media. Congress leader Sapkal targeted Fadnavis, who is called ‘Devabhau’ by his supporters, over the incident. “Devabhau is acting like Duryodhana (arch-villain of the Mahabharata). The police, after threatening students with false drug cases, have now gone to the extent of al legedly outraging the modesty of a woman in Dadar and lathi-charging young protesters. This ‘police raj’ is a blot on Maharashtra.
Mere token action is not enough; the police man who threatened students must be suspended,” Sapkal said. In a post on X, Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad questioned why male officers were deal ing with women protesters. “It is not right to speak of ‘Ladki Bahin’ and then treat young women in this manner. It is shameful that women are allegedly being mistreated in the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. False cases are being filed against stu dents, and they are being threatened,” Gaikwad wrote. NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar demand ed the immediate suspension and arrest of the official seen in the clip. “Register a case of outraging the modesty of a woman against him and put him behind bars. He is a blot on the Maharashtra Police, a force with a distinguished reputa tion,” Pawar stated. Many netizens also shared the video, slamming the po lice force and the BJP-led government. MNS chief Raj Thackeray, meanwhile, alleged that the Delhi police’s crackdown on the Cockroach Janta Party’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ march seemed like an act of “revenge” rath er than crowd control.
Mapusa turns into a sea of solidarity
AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
LOHIA GARDEN, MAPU SA: The message from Goa was unmistakable on Friday night – a question cannot be lathicharged and attempts to silence dissent cannot stop it. Thousands of Goans — students, parents, senior citizens and ordinary citi zens from across the politi cal spectrum — poured into Lohia Garden in Mapusa in solidarity with students pro testing at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and responding to their call for a nationwide protest. The massive turnout was all the more significant because the protest had ap peared to be in danger of collapsing just hours earlier. Organised by NGO Uzwad as a peaceful, non-partisan solidarity gathering, the event was initially called off in the morning after organisers said they had not received police permission. There were also allegations that parents of children expected to attend had been threatened. “Uzwad has decided to call off the protest as the police have not given us permission and they have be-gun threat ening the parents of children expected to join the protest. We do not want to risk the children being at the receiving end of the cops,” explained Amreen Shaik, one of the mem bers of Uzwad. The police, however, denied that permission had been sought. “We have not received any letter from the organisers asking us for permission.
We have one letter inti-mating us that an event is being held. Hence, the question of giving permission does not arise,” said Ha-rish Madkaikar, Super intendent of Police, North Goa. But when O Heraldo shared with the Superintendent a letter dated July 22, 2026, explicitly titled “Intima-tion and application for permission to conduct a peaceful, non-par tisan citizen solidarity gathering on July 24, 2026”, Madkai kar did not respond. By then, the uncertainty had only added fuel to the gath ering. With the original venue at Bodgeshwar Ground in doubt, citizens and groups began circulating messages on social media that the protest would go ahead. The call trav elled rapidly, particularly among youngsters. By 6 pm, people wearing black T-shirts began converg ing on Lohia Garden. What began at 7 pm with around 200 people quickly be came a sea of people. Within half an hour, the gar-den was packed, with no space left for people to stand around it. The numbers continued to swell well into the evening, with students, parents and even toddlers continuing to arrive after 8 pm. The scale of the gathering was a direct answer to the un certainty that had surrounded it through the day — and to the alleged attempts to dissuade young people from at tending. “I have come here because I have lost all hope after see ing what is happening all over the country, and I hope the government will realise that it is time to think about the fact that we children have a future and are not to be used,” said 12-year-old Emilia Sequeira, a Class VII student. 24-year-old Malika, who attended the protest in her wheelchair, said the turnout had restored her faith that change remained possible. “Seeing this crowd this evening, I am positive there is hope for change because change is a necessity. Our Prime Minister has not realised that our cry is for change,” said Malika.
For Anurada Vargaonkar, the anger was rooted in what she described as the government’s disregard for education and the future of an entire generation. “Education is one of our pillars and it hurts me that this government thinks it can play with such a pillar. By trying to play with the future of my children, the government is making a serious mistake. They will pay dearly for this,” Vargaonkar said“Without education, we cannot go forward,” she added. The anger was not reserved for the government alone. The Opposition, said Ana Fernandes, had also failed in itsresponsibility to hold those in power accountable. “The problem is not just with the government but with the Opposition too. The Opposition has failed us equally and appears to be clambering on the backs of the students. It is the job of the Opposition to keep the government in check, and they have failed,” said Fernandes, who drove all the way from Anjuna to attend the gathering. “There is corruption, there is hatred and there is a lot of negativity all around the country. I think the gov-ernment needs to understand that it is accountable to its people. Making our views heard is the starting point, and this is the reason I am here,” stated 39-year-old Sahil, for whom Goa is his second home. For Selma Varghese, the protest was a demonstration of a new political force emerging outside the estab-lished structures of power. “I think it was good to see so many people, most of whom did not know each other, coming out together to put across a very clear point to the Prime Minister of this coun try—that he cannot take us for granted anymore. If he does not want to hear our voice, we will make him hear it.
This is youth power for the BJP,” said Varghese. The gathering ended with the national anthem. But as the last strains faded, the crowd broke into spon-taneous jeers against the Prime Minister. What began as a call for solidarity with students at Jan tar Mantar transformed into a warning from the streets of Goa — that a government may attempt to control a gather ing, question its permission or dis-courage its young par ticipants, but it cannot permanently silence a public that has decided to speak.
Ponda joins the fight
The anger of students erupted on the streets of Ponda as well, as a large number of students and Congress workers marched in solidarity with the nationwide call for pro test against examination ir regularities and the NEET paper leak. The protesters, who gathered at Kranti Maidan Martyr Memorial for a candlelight rally organ ised by the Congress Pon da Block, demanded that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ei ther resign or be sacked over the paper leak controversy. The protest also con demned the alleged po lice assault on students at Jantar Mantar, the action taken by the Delhi Police against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and what the protesters described as the government’s con tinued failure to address examination irregularities.
Raising slogans against the government, the protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, holding the government accountable for the alleged police brutality against protesting students and the suicides of students who, they said, had been pushed to despair by paper leaks and irregularities. The protesters also condemned the ‘termite’ remark allegedly made by former MP and BJP leader Narendra Sawaikar against the protesting students. For students, the issue was not merely about one exami nation but about the destruction of years of hard work and the sacrifices made by families for their children’s educa tion. “Students work hard while parents sacrifice their hard earned money to educate their children. The NEET paper leak has disappointed students and several have commit ted suicide.
No student should have to go through such trauma. Peaceful protest is a democratic right and the po lice have no right to suppress it,” said student Aditya. Former councillor and Congress Ponda Block chief Wil liam Aguiar said the Union Education Minister could not escape responsibility for the crisis. “The Education Min ister should resign over the NEET paper leak. Our demand is that students who have committed suicide should be compensated. We support the students’ protest at Jantar Mantar,” he said. Ramkrishna Zalmi said the continuing student protest in Delhi reflected a failure of accountability at the highest lev els. “For the last one month, students have been staging a protest. The responsible minister should resign. The Prime Minister, Home Minister and Education Minister should all resign if they believe in democracy,” he said. Advocate Hridaynath Shirodkar accused the government of using the police to intimidate dissent and said the crack down on students had raised larger questions about the state of democracy. “There is dadagiri by the Government through the police.
Prominent channels are not covering the reality, but this is being effectively countered by Instagram and YouTube. India was a democracy, but it is being turned into a police state. The brutal action against students has downgraded democracy. Goondas also came and attacked students in Delhi, besides the police. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the Prime Minister should resign,” he said. Shirodkar also expressed solidarity with climate activist Sonam Wangchuk. Congress Ponda leader Rajesh Verenkar said the pro tests reflected a new generation refusing to remain silent. “Gen Z is staging an agitation and we are supporting their demands,” he said, adding that the protesters were demanding reforms in the education system and greater transparency in examinations.
State Youth Congress president Archit Naik said the gov ernment had failed to act despite repeated examination paper leaks and the deaths of students. “The Education Minister should resign or be sacked. The Government is insensitive. There have been 152 paper leaks over the past several years, with zero convictions and several suicides,” he said. M K Sheikh said the recurring allegations of examination leaks had exposed the need for accountability. “NEET exams are held every year. For the past several years, people were unaware of the leaks, but now the time has come. Those responsible should be punished because students have committed suicide out of frustration,” he said. The candlelight protest in Ponda, coming alongside the massive solidarity gathering in Mapusa, underlined the breadth of the response in Goa to the students’ nationwide call.
