The best thing about the Bharatiya Janata Party is that it has adopted a system of inherent checks and balances to correct things from time to time. No matter how much credit the Congress and the Cockroach Janta Party may claim for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the fact remains that it was the nudge from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor, that expedited the resignation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, otherwise, is not known to succumb to pressure so soon or so quickly. It took him a full year to withdraw the farm laws, and that too after farmers had laid siege to the Delhi borders throughout that period.
It was RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat who, during a recent function of the ‘Vishwa Mangalya Sabha’, spoke about the modern generation and dropped not-so-subtle hints to the government on how to deal with the youth. Contrary to the official narrative, Bhagwat said in unambiguous terms that today's generation was not “misguided” or “directionless” and favoured “discussion” over “dictation”. The message was not lost on anyone. It was clear what the RSS chief wanted to convey. The curtain had already fallen on Pradhan's ministerial position.
Before Bhagwat, it was nonagenarian senior BJP leader and former party president Dr Murli Manohar Joshi who also voiced concern over the students' protests and the way the police handled them. The 92-year-old BJP veteran wrote on ‘X’: “It is painful to see young students from different parts of the country assembled for days on the streets of New Delhi. Their anxieties and concerns regarding the examination system are genuine and must be handled with empathy and a desire to find a lasting solution. I fervently hope that this is not treated merely as a law-and-order issue to be tackled through the use of force. It is very painful to see that even young girls were brutally mishandled. Such use of force shall alienate large sections of Indian society from the national goal of Viksit Bharat.”
Joshi's message was loud, clear and categorical: You cannot treat your own students and the young generation like that. This is the same thing the opposition parties have been telling the government.
Another senior BJP leader and former general secretary, Murli Dhar Rao, also took to ‘X’ to voice his concern, writing an elaborate note on ‘Democracy and Dissent’. He wrote: “In a healthy democracy, dissent is as legitimate as the mandate to govern. It is not a challenge to democracy but an essential part of it. Governments should create institutional spaces and clear procedures for citizens to express their views peacefully and non-violently. Such an approach strengthens public trust, channels grievances constructively, and ultimately benefits the nation.”
Like Joshi, he was specific and clear in his disapproval of the way the government handled the protest on July 20. “In today's connected world, poor handling of protests creates damaging optics and erodes public confidence. A mature democracy protects both public order and the constitutional right to peaceful dissent,” he added.
While Bhagwat's word was eventually the last one for the BJP government, the voices of senior leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi and Murli Dhar Rao also had an impact. Joshi may have retired and withdrawn from active politics, but his important intervention at a crucial moment was significant. Rao, too, is quite an influential voice in the BJP and the RSS.
This is not to belittle or downplay the pressure built up by the Cockroach Janta Party, duly supported by the opposition parties, particularly the Congress, for Pradhan's resignation. Although the CJP will have to go a long way to graduate and mature into a serious political organisation, it has already scored an important victory despite everything.
The government, on the other hand, also appeared keen on an early exit from the crisis, which was threatening to intensify and become more complicated. After the Shaheen Bagh and farmers' protests, the government appears to have grown wiser about resolving issues at the earliest—sooner the better—without allowing ego to stand in the way.
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