Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Monday questioned the BJP’s public praise for former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, calling it “deeply shameful” and an insult to the country’s youth in the wake of the paper leak controversy and the crackdown on protesting students.

Ramesh said BJP MPs were welcoming Pradhan as though he had achieved something remarkable. He alleged that instead of apologising to students for the paper leak while resigning, Pradhan had blamed them for being “misled”, following which Union ministers took to social media to laud his tenure.

The Congress leader said the entire episode amounted to a grave insult to the country’s youth and sought to know whether the BJP believed Pradhan’s performance deserved praise despite the paper leak controversy, the alleged collapse of the education system, the baton charge on students and the use of pellet guns against protesters.

”If not, then what exactly is he being honoured for? And if the BJP believes his work was commendable, is this the message it wants to send to the country’s students and youth?” Ramesh asked, adding that the nation deserved an answer.

Pradhan on Saturday announced on X that he had resigned from the Union Cabinet, a move that fulfilled one of the primary demands of protesters who have been camping at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

Referring to the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination held on May 3, Pradhan said the Centre cancelled the examination after the irregularities came to light and handed over the probe to the CBI. The examination was later rescheduled, and the government also decided that NEET-UG would be conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from 2027.