Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday resigned from his post in the wake of the ongoing protests in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar seeking his ouster.

Pradhan said he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that “anti-national forces” do not take advantage of the ongoing protests, and so that no student “gets embroiled in legal battles”.

Pradhan’s resignation was the core demand of protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, who have been holding demonstrations in Delhi since June 6. The protesters had been calling on him to quit on account of alleged mismanagement of a series of competitive examination.

Minutes after the minister made the announcement on social media, the Cockroach Janta Party asserted: “Cockroaches won…democracy won! Jai Hind.”

However, it said that its two other key demands – Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test aspirants who died by suicide, no police action against student protesters, and an apology from the Rapid Action Force and the police – are pending.

The Cockroach Janta Party said that the protesters at Jantar Mantar, as well as the rest of the country, are “still waiting on the rest of the demands”.

Cockroach Janta Party chief Abhijeet Dipke was quoted by PTI as telling protesters in Delhi: “This is the proof that if you don’t get scared, if you don’t bow down in front of this government, you can take anyone’s resignation. Don’t be scared in democracy.”

On July 19, thousands joined the protest in Delhi after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, to hospital. A march to Parliament on Monday was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which soon spread to other parts of the country.

Wangchuk ended his hunger strike after 26 days in the early hours of Friday at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital in the presence of Union ministers Jitendra Singh and JP Nadda.

Written by Neerad Pandharipande. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: What if Dharmendra Pradhan resigns?

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