Congress senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following alleged paper leaks in NEET and UGC-NET examinations.
The demand highlights a growing political crisis over the integrity of India's national testing systems. If the government fails to address these irregularities, it risks losing the trust of millions of students and educators across the country.
Speaking in a Times Now interview on July 10, 2026 [2], Singhvi described the current political climate as a case of “Zidd & Ego.” He said it took over 18 months [1] for this specific political dynamic to change even mildly.
“The first demand was his resignation,” Singhvi said regarding Pradhan. “There is no point engaging without this demand being fulfilled.”
The push for accountability extends beyond the minister's office. On July 9, 2026 [3], the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee issued a statement demanding both the resignation of Pradhan and the disbanding of the National Testing Agency (NTA) due to the UGC-NET leak.
Similar protests have emerged in other regions. In Andhra Pradesh, Congress members staged demonstrations in Guntur to protest alleged NEET irregularities and call for the minister's removal.
While Singhvi focused on the minister's resignation during his interview, other party wings have explicitly targeted the NTA's existence as a primary goal for reform. The party alleges that widespread irregularities have compromised the credibility of these high-stakes examinations.
“The first demand was his resignation. There is no point engaging without this demand being fulfilled.”
The coordinated demands from various state Congress units and senior leadership signal an attempt to turn administrative failures in the examination process into a broader referendum on the Education Ministry's competence. By targeting both the minister and the National Testing Agency, the opposition is seeking a complete overhaul of the centralized testing architecture rather than a simple personnel change.
