Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan — demand for whose resignation over paper leaks such as the NEET-UG has been at the nub of an ongoing protest in the heart of the national capital — on Sunday met and congratulated Panshul Bansal, who secured All India Rank 2 in the NEET-UG 2026 as re-examination was held because of a leak.
Event Context
Pradhan shared a photo with the student a day after Delhi Police forcibly removed activist Sonam Wangchuk from his Jantar Mantar hunger strike demanding Pradhan’s resignation, and as police invoked prohibitory orders to block a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) march to Parliament planned for Monday.
Police said security had been tightened ahead of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session, with additional personnel, barricades and vehicle checks at entry points across New Delhi, Central Delhi and parts of North Delhi.
Player Focus
In a post on X, Pradhan said he had met Panshul Bansal from Haryana and congratulated him on his achievement, adding that his performance reflects the dedication, perseverance and aspiration of India’s young minds.
Team Analysis
Bansal, a Faridabad resident, scored 715 out of 720 marks in the re-conducted exam, tying with Punjab’s Aryan Gupta for the top score but placed second under tie-breaking rules. The re-examination was held on June 21 after the original exam on May 3 was cancelled following a paper leak.
The Cockroach Janta Party — founded and named thus by comms professional and activist Abhijeet Dipke in May after some comments by the Chief Justice of India — has been dubbed “B-team of terrorists” by Pradhan in his only reaction to it. PM Narendra Modi has not spoken on the issue.
Deputy commissioner of police, New Delhi, Sachin Sharma said in a public advisory on X that no permission had been sought or granted for the CJP’s proposed ‘Chalo Sansad’ march, and that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were in force across the New Delhi district.
The advisory said marches, processions and assemblies of five or more people were barred except at the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar with prior permission, and warned that violators faced prosecution.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal accused the Centre of breaking a peaceful protest in “fascist” fashion, while Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal questioned why PM Modi had not met Wangchuk despite the party raising similar concerns over the paper leak.
Delhi Police have maintained that Wangchuk’s removal followed court directions and medical advice, and that officers exercised maximum restraint during the operation.
Wangchuk’s wife had asked that he be shifted to a private hospital — a request the Delhi high court refused to grant for now.
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A three-tier security arrangement, including two layers of Delhi Police personnel and one layer of paramilitary forces, has been put in place around Jantar Mantar, according to police sources cited by news agency PTI.
The CJP has been protesting at Jantar Mantar since mid-June, with Wangchuk joining the hunger strike on June 28. Delhi Police removed him from the site on July 18, on the 21st day of his fast, citing a Delhi High Court order and deteriorating health, and shifted him to Safdarjung Hospital, where security was subsequently intensified.
Wangchuk issued a message from hospital urging supporters to join Monday’s march regardless, which he called “India 2nd Freedom Movement”.
Dipke, who alleged he was beaten and detained while trying to reach the site, began an indefinite hunger strike of his own soon after and said the CJP’s demand had shifted from Pradhan’s resignation to the prime minister’s.
He urged supporters to throng Jantar Mantar in anticipation of further police action and said the march would go ahead as planned.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, breaking days of silence on the strike, also spoke after Wangchuk was taken away. He said the core tenets of the Modi government were “asatya and hinsa” (falsehood and violence).
