New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held an extensive, high-stakes meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter’s Parliament House office on Monday. The meeting, which lasted for over two hours, was called to address the rapidly escalating situation in New Delhi. Thousands of demonstrators under the Cockroach Janta Party banner launched a volatile “Chalo Sansad” march to demand swift accountability over the national examination crisis. Pradhan, who attended the Lok Sabha session earlier in the morning, immediately moved to the Home Minister’s chambers following the first adjournment of the Lower House. Top administrative sources confirmed that the closed-door discussions were intensely focused on restoring law and order while formulating a strategic government response to the student-led movement.
The urgency of the meeting was compounded by parallel channels of communication established between the government and the leadership of the movement. Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister JP Nadda met with prominent CJP spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to hear their official list of demands. Nadda reportedly briefed Amit Shah immediately after the meeting, relaying the core demands of the agitators. Adding another layer of complexity to the administrative challenge, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who remains hospitalised, made public a strict list of conditions required for him to break his ongoing fast. Political circles filled with speculation that Pradhan might be deputed by the central leadership to personally meet Wangchuk at the medical facility to negotiate a resolution, though senior officials chose not to comment on any such deployment.
The critical discussions between Shah and Pradhan drew intense scrutiny from both political analysts and the public, as the outcome could decide the immediate future of the education ministry’s leadership. The CJP has remained steadfast in its primary demand, calling for the immediate resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. The group holds the minister accountable for the massive controversy surrounding the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, which led to the cancellation of the high-stakes medical entrance exam. Alongside calls for his resignation, the protesters have demanded comprehensive structural reforms to clean up the National Testing Agency’s examination system and adequate compensation for the families of affected students.
