Indian students accuse BJP of dodging accountability as protest enters day 16

ISLAMABAD: Student protesters accuse India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party of escaping accountability despite repeated public demands for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, as demonstrations at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar entered their 16th day on Sunday.

In a video shared on X by "Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, a student protester said electoral victories did not exempt the government from accountability.

"If you are winning the election by doing voter fraud, by doing voter bribery, by doing Hindu-Muslim, by polarizing the society... it does not mean that you own this country," the student said.

He added that governments remain accountable throughout their five-year term, regardless of their electoral mandate.

Calls for 'moral accountability'

"Eighteen students have committed suicide, and the Education Minister is saying that we are terrorists... He will not take accountability. He will not resign from his post. So we will also sit here," the student said as student protests entered their 16th day at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

"There has always been a culture in this country that resignation should be done. If something goes wrong, then moral accountability should be taken," the student said, referring to former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's resignation as railway minister after a deadly train accident in 1956.

Call for minister's resignation

The protest began on June 20 to demand Pradhan's resignation over his handling of reported irregularities in India’s national examination system, including the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who joined the movement in solidarity, entered the eighth day of an indefinite hunger strike.

Six students linked to the All India Students’ Association are also continuing an indefinite hunger strike at a separate protest site. According to National Herald India, their blood sugar levels have fallen to what medical sources describe as dangerous levels, with one student recording 50 mg/dL and another 59 mg/dL.

“How much longer will the Prime Minister wait before removing Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan?” Dipke wrote on his personal social media account.