In 1997, Odisha was ruled by a Congress government led by Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik. Just a few kilometres from the Chief Minister’s residence in Bhubaneswar, nearly 1,500 students gathered outside the state secretariat to protest an alleged examination paper leak.
Among the student leaders at the forefront of the agitation was Dharmendra Pradhan, who would later become India’s Education Minister.
According to a 2021 report by The New Indian Express, Pradhan took to the streets as a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to protest against the Janaki Patnaik government.
The report, quoting Pradhan’s close associates, said he entered student politics at the age of 18 and quickly emerged as an active organiser within the ABVP, the student organisation affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Pradhan studied Anthropology at Utkal University and served twice as the ABVP’s national secretary between November 1994 and 1997.
At the time of the 1997 paper leak controversy, he was serving as ABVP national secretary and was reportedly preparing to formally join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Prashant Rout, now the principal of RMD Degree College in Bhubaneswar and Pradhan’s junior at Utkal University, recalled the protest in an interview with the newspaper.
“We staged a protest against the Odisha government in front of the secretariat. Around 1,500 students joined us there,” Rout said.
According to him, the protest remained peaceful until the police moved against the demonstrators.
“We were quite scared. Pradhan was badly beaten up at the time. He suffered a few fractures too,” Rout was quoted as saying.
Rout also recalled that student elections during that period frequently turned violent due to intense political rivalries. He alleged that Pradhan was once attacked by supporters of a rival political group after it became clear that he was likely to win a campus election.
“He is alive today only because of sheer luck,” Rout said while recalling the incident.
Pradhan’s years in student politics laid the foundation for a long organisational and political career in the BJP.
Before taking charge as Union Education Minister in 2021, he served as Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and also handled the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Political observers have often credited him with playing a key role in strengthening the BJP’s organisational base in Odisha over several decades.
Those efforts eventually contributed to the BJP forming its first government in the state in 2024, ending more than two decades of Biju Janata Dal rule under Naveen Patnaik.
The 1997 protest has now returned to public discussion amid the controversy surrounding alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination.
Thousands of students have faced police action during protests in New Delhi over the issue. The controversy has become politically sensitive because it concerns the same issue that once helped bring Pradhan into public prominence as a student leader.
Opposition parties have demanded Pradhan’s resignation before any parliamentary discussion on the NEET controversy.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge argued that a meaningful and fair debate could take place only after the Education Minister stepped down.
Union Minister and senior BJP leader J.P. Nadda, however, said the government was fully prepared to debate the issue and had nothing to hide.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also maintained that the government had been ready for a discussion since the beginning of the Monsoon Session.
