New Delhi: Another meeting between the government and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was underway Saturday, shortly after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from the Union Cabinet.
Pradhan’s resignation was the main demand of the CJP.
While the central government was represented by Union Ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh, the CJP delegation comprises spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka at the meeting held at the Constitution Club of India here.
Facing mounting protests for his ouster over the NEET paper leak issue, Pradhan resigned on Saturday, saying it is not a matter of “individual prestige” for him, and he wanted to prevent anti-national forces from exploiting the situation at Jantar Mantar and across the country.
It is to be seen how the government navigates the two other key demands of the CJP — Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of those who died by suicide after the cancellation of the May 3 NEET-UG and withdrawal of the FIRs against protesters.
The outfit has been spearheading the protests that started at Jantar Mantar June 20, seeking resignation of Pradhan and education reforms.
They have also demanded that the government of India, the head of the Rapid Action Force and the Delhi Police commissioner publicly apologise to the students who were allegedly thrashed brutally by their forces.
This was the fourth official meeting between the CJP and the government.
Nadda held two back-to-back meetings with Das and Ranka on July 20 at the minister’s residence. That was the day thousands of protesters responded to the ‘Sansad Chalo’ call and began marching towards Parliament only to be pushed back by police batons and teargas. Scores of people were injured.
The two sides met Friday as well.
The outfit had then maintained that its protest at Jantar Mantar will continue until Pradhan resigns.
In a video message around midnight Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a Bill containing provisions for strong action against paper leaks will be introduced in Parliament next week.
Hours later, the Union Cabinet Friday approved a draft Bill to ensure stricter punishments for paper leaks.
