Thiruvananthapuram, July 24 -- CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to the ongoing student protests against the NEET paper leak, saying that the PM should first ask Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign or remove him from the Cabinet.

He alleged that the government's response came after it realised that "repressive policies" would not suppress the ongoing student and youth agitation.

"What Narendra Modi should do is first of all ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resign. If he refuses to resign, then the Prime Minister should remove him from ministership. That is the key demand of the student-youth agitation. Without that, whatever negotiations Narendra Modi claims to initi...