Dharmendra Pradhan said attempts were made to mislead Gen Z during the NEET paper leak protests and revealed he had offered to resign as Education Minister.
Senior BJP leader and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan has said attempts were made to “mislead” Generation Z during the protests over the NEET paper leak controversy, revealing that he had himself approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered to resign as Union Education Minister.
Pradhan made the remarks on Saturday while addressing students and teachers at GM University in Sambalpur, exactly two weeks after he stepped down from the Union Council of Ministers amid massive protests over the NEET issue.
‘THE POST WAS NOT IMPORTANT TO ME’
Breaking his silence on his resignation, Pradhan said he had no personal issues at the time and maintained that the aspirations of young Indians were more important to him than his ministerial position.
“Gen Z is our children. Some people attempted to mislead them. I had no personal issues then,” Pradhan said, according to news agency PTI.
He said India sees the birth of around two crore children every year and that nearly 20 crore children had been born over the preceding decade.
“These children have aspirations, and they will make India the ‘Vishwa Guru’. The post was not important to me,” he said.
Pradhan also said he had approached Prime Minister Modi and offered to step down from the Union Council of Ministers. He resigned from the Education Ministry on July 25.
‘I AM A FARMER’S SON, I WILL COME BACK’
At another meeting in Rairakhol, Pradhan took aim at former Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik over protests organised against him.
Referring to a protest by BJD youth and student wing activists near the airport, where demonstrators raised slogans such as “Dharmendra Pradhan Go Back”, the BJP leader said he was not affected by such protests.
“I am a farmer’s son. Even if you tell me to go back, I will come back,” Pradhan said.
He also hit back at Patnaik over alleged criticism directed at him.
“Naveen Babu also calls me a disgrace to the people of Odisha and a bad person,” Pradhan said, accusing the BJD president of involving young people in protests against him.
“Have I ever done anything that will shame the people of Odisha?” he asked, prompting the gathering to respond with “No”.
Pradhan said that while he may not have brought laurels to Odisha, he had never done anything through his work that would bring disgrace to the state.
“I may not be bringing laurels for the state, but I have never disgraced the people by my work. I will never do any work which will tarnish the state’s reputation,” he said.
‘I BECAME UNION MINISTER WITH BLESSINGS OF LORD JAGANNATH’
Pradhan also spoke about his political journey, saying he became a Union minister 12 years ago with the blessings of Lord Jagannath and Goddess Samaleswari, the presiding deity of Sambalpur.
His remarks against Patnaik came at an event where BJD MLA and deputy leader in the Odisha Assembly Prasanna Acharya was also present.
Pradhan said that, given the BJD protests, he had consulted Acharya about whether he should attend the event.
“Keeping in view the BJD’s protests, I had consulted Prasanna Bhai whether I should go. Prasanna Babu told me to come and assured me that I would be welcomed. I came here after taking his permission,” Pradhan said.
BJD HITS BACK AT PRADHAN
BJD’s Sambalpur district president and former minister Rohit Pujari rejected Pradhan’s allegations and said the BJP leader had faced criticism because of the government’s handling of the student protests.
“Nobody had defamed Pradhan. His party and government have defamed him by police resorting to lathi-charge, tear gas and atrocities during the peaceful student agitation at Jantar Mantar,” Pujari said.
He argued that Pradhan was facing criticism because of those incidents and questioned why the former Odisha chief minister would be blamed for the police action.
“Why would Patnaik want to defame him? The whole country knows that 21 children died by suicide because of him. Of the 22 lakh students who appeared for the examination, around 21 lakh students must be under depression. Nobody needs to defame him; he has defamed himself,” Pujari claimed.
Pujari further alleged that it was the BJP government’s “wrong policy” that had brought a bad name to Pradhan.
