BHUBANESWAR: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday reiterated the demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and condemned the police assault on protesting students in New Delhi over the NEET paper leak issue.
Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik said agitations were being organised across the country over the alleged police assault on young students and irregularities in competitive exams.
He announced that the BJD would continue to organise agitations in Odisha over the NEET paper leak and the assault on students during their protest in New Delhi on July 20.
Citing protests in India and abroad calling for Pradhan’s resignation, Patnaik reiterated that the Union Education Minister should step down. He also condemned the police assault on students and the high‑handedness towards Congress leader LoP Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders who were protesting to demand Pradhan’s resignation.
“Everyone is deeply shocked by the police violence, the unnecessary violence by the police on young students. Not only young students, you would have seen yesterday that the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and many other senior politicians were also treated very roughly by the police. This is shocking,” Patnaik said.
Meanwhile, reacting strongly against the remarks by the BJD president, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that Patnaik should have first condemned the violence by agitators before speaking about police action.
The BJP alleged that Patnaik did not act during his tenure even when similar demands were raised and agitations were held in Odisha seeking the resignation of ministers in his government over various allegations.
Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling told IANS it was unfortunate that a senior leader like Patnaik was now lecturing others on “ethics and morality” despite remaining silent over several examination irregularities during the BJD government’s rule.
“As an MLA from 2019 to 2024, we repeatedly raised issues such as the chit fund scam, the murder of former Health Minister Naba Das, and several examination irregularities. However, Naveen Babu never responded to the concerns raised by the Opposition or the people of Odisha,” he said.
The minister alleged that during the BJD regime, several recruitment and examination controversies surfaced, including the 2015 Odisha Police Constable recruitment irregularities, OTET question paper leaks in 2016, 2019 and 2022, Matric examination paper leaks in 2018 and 2019, issues related to the OSSC recruitment examination, and the cancellation of the SSC Junior Engineer (Civil) Main Examination in 2023 due to irregularities.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described examination paper leaks as a “grave sin” and assured the country that the guilty would face the strictest possible punishment.
