The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) marched to the ministry of education on June 19, 2026, demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protest march announced at a press meet on June 10 was interrupted by the Delhi Police and paramilitary forces near Mata Sundari College. More than 500 students from various states, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and from campuses across Delhi, gathered at HKS Surjeet Bhawan, prior to the march. “Dharmendra Pradhan must resign” and “Scrap NTA” were the key slogans that the protest march highlighted. The march upheld significant demands aimed at ensuring justice for the affected students and demanding compensation for the families of students who committed suicide following the cancellation of the NEET UG exam held on May 3 due to allegations of paper leak.
On June 19, before the scheduled 12 pm, students gathered at HKS Surjeet Bhawan, bracing themselves for the march with discussions, sloganeering, and cultural engagements. The Delhi Police officials reached the venue in the morning, making every effort to convince the SFI leadership to call off the demonstration, highlighting the denial of permission. SFI’s application demanding permission to hold the march was outrightly denied by the police in an undemocratic manner as part of the ongoing attempts from the double-engine government and police to suppress any voice of protest regarding the current political context. SFI All India Centre, in a dialogue with the police officials at HKS Surjeet Bhawan, resolutely declared its intent to continue the protest march and challenged any attempt to obstruct it. Meanwhile, both the roads from HKS were barricaded with a deployment of heavy police and paramilitary forces.
The march commenced at 12 pm from HKS Surjeet Bhawan, with hundreds of students shouting slogans against Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Testing Agency (NTA), responsible for the trauma that lakhs of students across the nation are suffering. The march that flooded the street immediately gave an overview of hundreds of posters held high by the students that were bearing slogans and pictures of the aspirants who lost their lives. The barricades in front of Mata Sundari College, intended to block the demonstration, became the point of convergence between students and the forces as the spirited students lifted them off. The students marched on while some were blocked and dragged by the force. The Delhi Police and the paramilitary force assaulted the students brutally, detaining 4 activists.
The march was never allowed to reach the ministry as it was interrupted and blocked right near the venue of commencement. However, SFI stood adamant about the demand to meet with ministry officials, raise concerns regarding the country’s education system, and register dissent over Dharmendra Pradhan continuing as the minister, despite strong waves of protest across India. The police officials offered to facilitate the meeting by transporting an SFI delegation to the ministry. Additionally, the students strongly demanded the release of the four detained activists immediately, which forced the police to free them. A delegation of SFI leaders, including Adarsh M Saji (SFI All India President), Srijan Bhattacharyya (SFI All India General Secretary), Aishe Ghosh (SFI All India Joint Secretary) and S Shilpa (SFI All India Vice President), decided to go to the ministry with a memorandum demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. Meanwhile, SFI All India Vice President Subhash Jhakar, along with other members of the SFI Central Executive Committee, kept the gathering active by staging a sit-in near Mata Sundari College. The gathering was addressed by the central leaders of SFI and student representatives hailing from different colleges and universities of various states. The protest took a different turn when the students began to perform various cultural activities.
The Delhi Police’s offer to facilitate the SFI delegation’s meeting at the ministry turned out to be nothing but a deceptive stunt to break the protest. The police officials tried to convince the delegation to return and call off the protest, stating that a prior application for a meeting must be submitted. The delegation did not move an inch back and asserted the demand for a meeting with ministry officials. However, as a reflection of the lack of institutional accountability the ministry had been practising amid raging protests, officials refused to acknowledge the demand. After a long negotiation, the application submitted earlier by the SFI was received by the ministry, stamped and returned to the delegation with the assurance of scheduling a meeting the next week. With the official document of assurance, the delegation was taken back to the protest site, where the general secretary and the president briefed the students gathered there on the decision and future action.
Following the briefing, the students marched back to HKS Surjeet Bhawan with a renewed spirit to strengthen the fight in their respective institutional and regional centres. As part of its future plan, SFI decided to actively organise demonstrations demanding Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation across India through more than 100 protest rallies in different states. Not an inch back until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns!
