Dharmendra Pradhan must resign immediately or PM should sack him: Digvijaya Singh

New Delhi:In an exclusive interview with IANS, veteran Congress leader, Rajya Sabha Member, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP-led government.

Addressing the ongoing controversies surrounding national competitive examinations and data integrity, Singh demanded the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

He asserted that if the Minister fails to step down voluntarily, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must dismiss him to restore accountability.

Below are edited excerpts from the high-stakes conversation:

IANS: The Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting regarding the NEET examination controversies is taking place today. What can you share about the ongoing discussions?

Digvijaya Singh: First and foremost, as a matter of protocol and Parliamentary propriety, we cannot publicly discuss the specific details of what transpired during the active deliberations held within the Parliamentary Standing Committee. However, looking at the broader picture, the national situation has reached such an unprecedented crisis point that, solely due to Dharmendra Pradhan’s utter incompetence, the Prime Minister himself has had to step in and take direct responsibility for the management of the NEET examination.

IANS: The CBSE data and portal issues have also heated up significantly alongside the NEET crisis. What are your specific comments on how this matter is being handled?

Digvijaya Singh: In this regard, we have officially summoned the high-ranking officials from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to hold a detailed, rigorous discussion with them. Furthermore, we have also summoned two crucial individuals involved in exposing these vulnerabilities to get to the bottom of the matter.

The first individual is the whistleblower who successfully hacked the CBSE portal to demonstrate its weaknesses and provided that vital information to the authorities. Shockingly, when the ministry took no action, he subsequently wrote directly to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which also failed to take any timely corrective measures. The second individual we have summoned is the expert who exposed exactly how the official terms of the tender were altered behind the scenes. We will be discussing this matter thoroughly with him, specifically regarding the alarming details he has outlined in his public blog post.

IANS: Your party has been unyielding in demanding the resignation of the Education Minister. Why do you feel his exit is the only solution?

Digvijaya Singh: The scale of failure across our national education and examination boards is staggering. Dharmendra Pradhan should step down and resign from his post immediately. If he lacks the accountability to do so, then the Prime Minister should act decisively and dismiss him from the Union Cabinet at once.

IANS: Do you believe that the overall situation regarding national exams will finally improve now that it is under the Prime Minister’s direct supervision?

Digvijaya Singh: Consider the gravity of the current situation. The Prime Minister of this country has been compelled to instruct the Defence Minister that national examination papers will henceforth have to be transported across India using the Defence Ministry’s specialised aircraft. This extraordinary security measure is not a victory—it is a glaring reflection of the sheer incompetence and total systemic collapse of the Education Minister’s department. When an education ministry cannot even guarantee the secure transport of paper without relying on the armed forces, it proves they have lost the administrative capacity to govern.

IANS