Pakistan, July 27 -- Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as India's education minister was not an ordinary cabinet change. It was the fulfilment of the central demand raised by the Cockroach Janta Party and thousands of students who had protested for weeks over the NEET paper-leak scandal. On 25 July 2026, after sustained public pressure, Pradhan stepped down, and celebrations erupted at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. Protesters hugged one another, danced and declared that democracy and student power had won. The resignation demonstrated that a determined youth movement could force even Narendra Modi's powerful government to retreat and accept political accountability.

The resignation, however, cannot be understood without examining the crisis that...