BJP cheers, students wait
Two days after quitting amid NEET turmoil, Dharmendra Pradhan got a warm Parliament welcome. Telangana’s medical admissions still ride on NEET — the celebration doesn’t move a single counselling date.
The Parliament welcome did not set a Telangana counselling date.
Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as Union education minister on July 25, saying he stepped down so “anti-national forces” don’t exploit the NEET-UG crisis and so students aren’t dragged into legal knots. That is his account of why he quit, not an admission that he caused the leaks. According to his public statement reported that day, he sent his resignation to the Prime Minister.
On July 27, BJP and NDA MPs greeted him in Parliament like a returning hero. Congress’s Rahul Gandhi called that “celebrating destruction of children’s futures” and said Pradhan should be sacked, not feted. That is political criticism; the documented event is the welcome.
Reports also said the government floated a compromise first — move Pradhan to another portfolio and keep him in Cabinet. The BJP called those reports “baseless, imaginative and unfounded.” If there was a formal offer, the government hasn’t put it on paper for anyone to read.
Meanwhile in Telangana, MBBS/BDS admissions run by KNRUHS depend on NEET-UG results; the university’s July 23 notice makes that plain. A national exam wobble ripples straight into our counselling calendar. The state has not published data on how many Telangana candidates were hit by the cancellations or any revised schedule — and Delhi’s theatre doesn’t answer that.
Protest organisers nationally said they stood down after the resignation, claiming the Centre accepted wider exam reforms and safeguards. That’s their claim; a signed settlement from the government isn’t in the record here. What is in the record: a BJP-led cheering section, and a pipeline where Telangana students still wait on NEET’s clean finish.
If the BJP-led Centre wants applause, it can start with a tamper-proof exam and a calendar our students can trust. The ovation in Parliament doesn’t help anyone get a medical seat.