India protest: How Modi’s refusal to sack education minister fits a pattern

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that thousands of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement have been camped in New Delhi for more than a month, demanding the removal of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated examination paper leaks. The article says the protests, joined by opposition parties, have become a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi early in his third term. It also reports that more than 100 people were severely injured on Monday when police used batons and tear gas.

The central point of Al Jazeera’s analysis is that Modi’s refusal to dismiss Pradhan is consistent with a broader pattern during his 12 years in power. The outlet cites earlier cases in which ministers faced public demands to resign but remained in government, including Mahesh Sharma after the 2015 lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh, and Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya after the 2016 death of Dalit doctoral student Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad.

Al Jazeera also points to Ajay Mishra Teni, who stayed in office after his son was accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence involving protesting farmers. The report notes one exception: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan resigned in 2021 amid criticism of the government’s handling of India’s severe COVID-19 wave.

The story matters because the exam-leak controversy has drawn students, young people and opposition parties into sustained street mobilisation over accountability in public institutions. Al Jazeera frames Pradhan’s continued tenure not as an isolated decision, but as part of Modi’s political style of resisting pressure to sack ministers during controversies.