Govt Never Tried To Stop Protest By Students Over Exam Paper Leaks: FM
The finance minister also pointed out that it would be incorrect to assume the government took a long time to respond to the protest and understand its enormity
New Delhi: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that the government never tried to stop the protest by students over exam paper leaks. Her statement came after Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union education minister following the unprecedented protest of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which spearheaded the protest pan India over exam paper leaks, and later called off the agitation on Saturday. His resignation was the main demand of the CJP.
The finance minister also pointed out that it would be incorrect to assume the government took a long time to respond to the protest and understand its enormity. “I give respect to the protest. We have not stopped them from protesting. The permission was given. We didn't try at any point in time to stop the protest. Well, I’m not undermining their energy. But the young in every generation join protests,” she said while responding to a question on the issue at the NDTV’s Business Leadership Awards 2026 here.
On the continuous paper leak in the country, Sitharaman also said that they want good, responsive, correct measures, timely measures and that's only right. “And therefore, they tend to protest because they think they should make the difference and I'm happy for it because that's the spirit of the young. I have no second opinion on that,” the finance minister said.
Explaining the issue, Sitharaman said, “When things didn't go right the first time, when the exams were held and the leak became public, it had to be acted upon. Soon, the government arrested those who had bought and sold the papers and so on. It was the responsibility of the government. One, to arrest them, put them to a judicial process.”
"But equally, it was the responsibility of the government to make sure the re-examination happens in time, students get their results in time, so that their one whole year's calendar does not get affected. And I think that bit was, together with everybody, Pradhan handled it. And after having completed that re-examination process and announcing the results, he took a call to put in his papers. If he hadn't done that, meaning if the re-examination hadn't happened in time, it would have been irresponsible of everybody in the system. We had to do that for the students and that was done,” she said. #End#