A video of Uttar Pradesh Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyay defending Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is going viral on social media. This comes amid growing demands for Pradhan's resignation over controversies related to exam irregularities and the CBSE On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
Yogendra Upadhyay's Remarks
In the video, Upadhyay questions why a minister should resign over alleged irregularities, stating that responsibility cannot be directly fixed on the minister. He said, “Why should a minister resign? Has any minister resigned before this? A minister is not responsible.” He added, “The minister was not involved in this. If the minister was involved, he would have definitely gone to jail.”
He further argued, “A bearded person can murder and a moustached person can be arrested. This will not work,” implying that individuals, not ministers, should be held accountable in such cases.
Congress Reacts
The Congress party shared the video online, criticizing the remarks. They stated, “‘The minister is not responsible for paper leaks’—these are the words of Uttar Pradesh Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyay. This shows that BJP leaders have crossed all limits of shamelessness. According to them, even if there are paper leaks in the country or the education system collapses, Dharmendra Pradhan should not resign from the post of Education Minister. Paper leaks are destroying the dreams of lakhs of students in the country, but ministers, intoxicated with power, are giving sermons.”
Protests and Exam Controversies
Meanwhile, members of the Cockroach Janta Party are holding protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged irregularities in CBSE Class 12 results and tender processes, as well as the NEET paper leak.
The NEET-UG 2026 exam, originally scheduled for May 3, 2026, was cancelled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) due to a massive paper leak that compromised the fairness of the entrance test for medical courses. CBSE also faces controversy over irregularities in its Class XII board exam results. The problems are linked to the new On-Screen Marking (OSM) portal used for evaluating answer sheets and the tender process for selecting the technology vendor.
