‘I have been a victim of Gen Z’: Dharmendra Pradhan breaks silence on NEET protests and resignation

Former Union education minister and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan has said the student protests over the NEET-UG paper leak controversy were influenced by attempts to mislead the younger generation, weeks after he stepped down from the education ministry.

Speaking at a felicitation ceremony for Padma awardees in Sambalpur on Saturday, Pradhan said he had approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the protests and sought permission to address the concerns and aspirations of young protesters.

“I have been a victim of Gen Z. For some time, the way this whole episode unfolded, I felt some people tried to mislead the children of the new generation,” Pradhan said, quoted by Hindustan Times.

Pradhan said he had met Modi and asked him to allow him to acknowledge the concerns of the protesters rather than let their grievances be used for political purposes.

“I met the Prime Minister and requested him to agree to the desire of Gen Z. I told him to allow me to acknowledge this in front of the children. I never staked my personal honour in the matter,” he said.

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As per the report, Pradhan said the Prime Minister agreed to his request and subsequently addressed the issue himself.

“The Prime Minister accepted this, and later he himself spoke about it in front of the children.”

Why Dharmendra Pradhan resigned

Pradhan resigned on July 25 amid weeks of student protests over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination.

In his resignation note, he said the decision was intended to ensure that “anti-national forces” did not exploit the agitation, that the country's unity remained intact and that the future of students did not get “entangled in legal complexities”.

“It is not a matter of individual prestige for me,” he had said in the note.

Pradhan had maintained that the government acted promptly after irregularities were reported in the May 3 NEET-UG examination. The investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the test was cancelled and a re-examination was conducted on June 21. The results were declared on July 16.

“From the very first day, I took responsibility for this, and I never turned away from this situation,” Pradhan said, reiterating that he did not want the prospects of meritorious students to be affected by problems in the examination system.

Pradhan's focus on India's young population

Speaking about India's demographic advantage, Pradhan said the country's younger generation would play a crucial role in its ambition to become a global power.

“Every year, around two crore children are born in India. If we look at those between the ages of 15 and 25, within a period of 10 years, there will be 20 crore children of the new generation on whose shoulders India will become a global leader,” Pradhan said.

His comments come as Prime Minister Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat have stepped up efforts to engage with Gen Z, which has emerged as a significant political force following the student protests.