‘Zindabad’ to jeers, Dharmendra Pradhan’s day in Parliament after resignation
Two days after he resigned, Dharmendra Pradhan was greeted in Parliament with chants of “Zindabad” before being escorted into the building.
Former Education Minister and BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan arrives at Parliament on Monday. ANI Two days after he resigned as Union Education Minister in the face of nationwide protests against paper leaks, Dharmendra Pradhan’s Parliament trip on Monday turned into a study in contrasts — a hero’s welcome from the BJP and jeers from the Opposition, all against the backdrop of another day washed out by protests in the Lok Sabha.
As Pradhan walked into Parliament through the Makar Dwar, a group of BJP Lok Sabha MPs was waiting for him. They greeted him with chants of “Dharmendra Pradhan Zindabad”, draped a scarf around his shoulders and escorted him into the building. The BJP leader was seen acknowledging the greetings with folded hands.
Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and others in Parliament Monday. PTI
Barely metres away, Opposition MPs were staging a protest over the police crackdown on protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and the Ram Temple donation row. As Pradhan crossed them, Opposition members hooted and raised slogans. The charged mood outside quickly spilt into the House.
Speaker Om Birla had barely finished reading out congratulatory messages for India’s Commonwealth Games medallists and announced the start of Question Hour when Opposition MPs trooped into the Well. They demanded that Union Home Minister Amit Shah make a statement on the alleged police excesses against protesters during the march to Parliament on July 20. Repeated appeals from the Chair to allow Question Hour to function went unheeded, forcing the first adjournment within minutes.
Home Minister Shah entered the complex through the Shardul Dwar instead of the Makar Dwar, where the Opposition demonstration was underway. He was later seen having lunch with a group of BJP MPs in the Parliament canteen. He was not seen in the House for much of the day.
As the House stood adjourned, Pradhan once again found himself surrounded by BJP colleagues, who walked up to congratulate and encourage him before he headed to Union Minister Bhupender Yadav’s office, where he remained until around 12.30 pm. The Lok Sabha reconvened at noon only to be disrupted again. Amid the din, Union Minister Jitendra Singh managed to introduce the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, before the House was adjourned for a second time.
A Pradhan-Jairam Ramesh meeting
One of the day’s more unexpected moments came when Pradhan was leaving Parliament around 12.30 pm. Near the Makar Dwar, he ran into Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh. The political rivals greeted each other warmly before Pradhan launched into an anecdote from the Vajpayee years.
Pradhan recalled wanting to meet Ramesh after reading what he described as a “glowing” India Today article written by the latter on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s governance. He said that after becoming an MP, he eventually met Ramesh — then a junior Commerce Minister — to press for better marketing support for chillies grown in his Odisha constituency.
The reminiscence gave way to the present. Smiling, Ramesh shook Pradhan’s hand and said, “It happens…”, in an apparent reference to his resignation. Pradhan was quick with a rejoinder. “Nothing happened. I am a street fighter, not an AC room activist,” he replied before walking out of the Parliament complex. He did not return for the post-lunch sitting.
Lok Sabha’s 2 pm sitting fared no better. Appeals by both Speaker Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju failed to persuade the Opposition to let proceedings continue, prompting another adjournment — this time till 5 pm.
Before adjourning the House, Birla said he was giving the government and the Opposition three hours to arrive at a consensus on taking up a discussion on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill. Government sources said floor managers would use the break to reach out to Opposition parties and try to break the impasse.
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