Center – CJP Talks Inconclusive, to Meet again on Saturday, Deadlock on Pradhan’s Resignation

Rohit Kumar

NEW DELHI, July 24: The talks between the Central government and the agitating Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders remained inconclusive on Friday with the two sides taking contradictory stands on the issue of resignation of the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the CJP maintaining that the minister’s resignation was “non-negotiable” and the government insisting it was “not on the cards right now.”

After two rounds of talks with the two central ministers, the union health minister JP Nadda and the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, at the Constitution Club of India (CCI), the CJP representative said the government had sought time till Saturday afternoon to take a call on the resignation demand, even as it readily accepted in principle its two other demands, compensation to the families of the students who committed suicide over the cancellation of the first NEET examination. and to withdraw the FIRs against students participating in the Monday’s march to the Parliament House.

“The government has asked for time till tomorrow afternoon on our demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. We hope the government will remove him soon. The government has expressed in-principle approval on the two demands of compensation (for families of NEET aspirants who died by suicide) and withdrawal of FIRs, legal cases on students,” CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka, who along with the national spokesperson Saurav Das represented the CJP in the talks with thegovernment.

“The meeting went on for almost 2 hours. They had 3 main demands and 5 reform suggestions for exams. We have told them that we will meet them again tomorrow afternoon and tell them about the discussion we had among the Government,” Mr Nadda said after the meeting.

The government sources, however, said the minister’s resignation was not on the cards right now and it was keen the CJP should agree to call off the agitation on the government’s promises of taking steps for examination reforms and their other related demands. The student protesters, camping at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and led by the CJP, have been demanding the 57-year-old Minister’s resignation over the NEET paper leak.

The sources say the government feels “resignation is the easiest decision to take” but it “stands with the Minister.” “People have given us the mandate, and we will deliver,” the government source said. “The government is preparing a list of problems in the National Testing Agency, and these issues will be resolved soon. We have busted many gangs involved in paper leaks. More actions are in the pipeline,” the source added.

The CJP agreed to the dialogue after the government reportedly accepted two of their conditional demands: that no legal action would be taken against peaceful protesters and that adequate compensation would be provided to the families of students affected by the recent exam irregularities.

Ahead of the meeting on Friday, the CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had also underlined that nothing short of the resignation of the Education Minister over the NEET paper leak would do. “If the government wants a solution to the protest, it is only the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan,” Dipke, the 30-year-old leader, had said.

The Friday meeting came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thursday night following government assurances on his key demands. In another outreach to protesters, the Center has shifted Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and appointed new officials to top positions in both the school education and higher education departments.

The last round of talks between the two sides took place on July 20, when Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka met JP Nadda at his residence. The two leaders later alleged that they were kept under “virtual detention” during the meeting and said they had subsequently insisted that any future discussions with the government be held only at a neutral venue.

Late on Thursday night, in a self-recorded video shared on He said, “I have issued directions to departments to set up Fast-Track Courts.”

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that a Bill providing for stringent action against paper leaks would be introduced in Parliament, the CJP has said the “strictest action” the government could take against examination irregularities was to remove Mr Pradhan.

The CJP has maintained that its protest at Jantar Mantar will continue until Mr Pradhan resigns as it was for accountability over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, reforms in the education system, Rs 1 crore compensation for families of students who died by suicide following the alleged NEET paper leak, and withdrawal of all FIRs and legal action against peaceful protesters who participated in the movement.