CJP declares victory after Pradhan resigns, but protests continue till all demands met

New Delhi — Within hours of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tendering his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) claimed a win for its 34-day agitation against the NEET paper leak but said the sit-in at Jantar Mantar will not end until every demand is met.

"Cockroaches won, democracy won," CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke told reporters at the protest site. "The education minister has resigned because students forced him to. But we will not leave until the government drops every FIR against students, releases those detained, and pays compensation to the injured."

What we can verify

1. Resignation letter cites "anti-national forces"
   Pradhan's letter to the PM, released by the Prime Minister's Office and reproduced by Hindustan Times, states he is stepping down "to ensure anti-national forces don't take advantage" of the Jantar Mantar protests. The letter does not mention the NEET paper leak.

2. CJP's five core demands remain unmet
   The group's charter, unchanged since Day 1, lists: (a) independent probe into NEET-UG 2024 leak, (b) dropping of all FIRs against protesters, (c) release of detained students, (d) compensation for pellet-gun and lathi-charge injuries, (e) structural reform of the National Testing Agency. As of Saturday evening, none of (b)–(e) has been announced.

3. Security buildup around Jantar Mantar
   Delhi Police deployed additional RAF and CRPF companies near Tolstoy Marg within two hours of the resignation announcement, according to on-ground journalists from News Pinch and Khabargaon. CJP volunteers formed human chains at barricades; no clashes were reported by late afternoon.

4. Dipke refuses "hero" framing
   "Don't make me a hero. This country has been ruined because people keep making one person a hero," Dipke said, echoing a line his mother Anita Dipke repeated to cameras: "The fight is for every child, not for my son."

What remains unverified

• Exact crowd size at Jantar Mantar on Saturday afternoon; estimates range from 3,000 to 15,000 across social-media posts [unverified].
• Whether the Centre has privately agreed to any of demands (b)–(e); no official statement exists.
• Reports that Pradhan's resignation was pushed by RSS functionaries close to Indresh Kumar; the RSS has not commented.

Why this matters

The CJP protest began as a loose online collective sharing memes about NEET irregularities. Thirty-four days later, it forced the exit of a Cabinet minister — a first for a student-led movement since the 2011 anti-corruption stir. Yet the government's immediate reaction — framing the resignation as a national-security measure rather than an accountability step — signals the political battle has shifted from the leak itself to control of the protest narrative.

CJP's next move: a midnight candle march on Sunday and a delegation to the President on Monday if demands are not met in writing.

*Cover image: Students celebrating at Jantar Mantar after Pradhan's resignation announcement. Source: Hindustan Times