As Dharmendra Pradhan faces calls to resign, see India’s most notable moral resignations | Today’s news
As tensions remain high across India and particularly in New Delhi over the NEET paper leak and police crackdown on protesters, demands for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation are growing louder by the day. However, the central government has not yet softened its stance on the issue. Continuing his stance, Pradhan recently lashed out at Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, alleging that he continues to “brazenly exploit students as political tools to create disruptions during the monsoon session of Parliament”.
While Pradhan himself has shown no inclination to resign voluntarily, Indian political history has seen ministers resign after accepting moral responsibility for major calamities or unfortunate incidents in their departments. Here are some notable examples:
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was India’s Minister of Railways and Transport in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. During his tenure, the Ariyalur train accident occurred in Tamil Nadu on 23 November 1956, when a passenger train plunged into a river after a bridge collapsed near Ariyalur, resulting in the deaths of about 140 to 150 persons.
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Notable moral resignations in India include Lal Bahadur Shastri after the Ariyalur train disaster, TT Krishnamachari after the Mundhra financial scam, and VK Krishna Menon during the 1962 Sino-Indian War, emphasizing that ministers take responsibility for the failures of their departments.
Calls for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation stem from the NEET paper leak incident, where many believe he should be held responsible for the systemic failures in the education system that led to the crisis.
Political figures in India often resign themselves to accept moral responsibility for high-profile incidents, indicating responsibility and commitment to principles even when they are not directly at fault, as seen in several historical cases.
Public sentiment has been a strong driver of resignations in India, as seen when ministers faced enormous pressure and criticism from the public and opposition parties after major accidents led to their resignations.
Debate continues over whether ministers should be held morally responsible for departmental failures; proponents argue that it ensures accountability, while opponents see it as unfair to matters beyond their direct control.
After the disaster, Shastri said that although he was not personally responsible for the failure, he should accept moral and political responsibility for it and resign.
Shastri had also made such an offer after the earlier train accident, but Pt Nehru convinced him to stay. However, the then prime minister accepted his resignation this time.
Read also | Dharmendra Pradhan unlikely to resign, says report as NEET protests escalate
TT Krishnamachari
T Krishnamachari was the Finance Minister of India when the Mundhra financial scam took place in which the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI) invested around ₹1.26 crore in companies headed by industrialist Haridas Mundhra.
After the issue was raised by Feroze Gandhi, who was the Congress MP from Raebareli and the husband of the then Prime Minister Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi, Krishnamachari decided to resign.
He resigned not because he was personally accused of corruption, but because of administrative oversight failures that led to fraud during his tenure as minister.
VK Krishna Menon
Another member of Nehru’s cabinet, VK Krishna Menon, was India’s Defense Minister during the Sino-Indian War of 1962, in which Indian forces suffered severe setbacks and losses.
Menon was criticized for the lack of preparedness of the Indian Army and, under political pressure, decided to resign from his post in the government in October 1962.
Nitsky Kumar
Nitish Kumar was India’s Railway Minister in the NDA government headed by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Two trains collided in Gaisal, West Bengal on 2 August 1999, resulting in the death of 280 people. Following this, Kumar took moral responsibility and resigned from his position as Railway Minister.
The accident was caused by signaling and traffic failures.
Shivraj Patil
One of the most famous and recent cases of a minister resigning due to the failure of his ministry is Shivraj Patil’s resignation as Union Home Minister after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
These attacks exposed fundamental flaws in India’s intelligence sharing, coastal security and also crisis response, prompting Patil to take political responsibility for the same. He resigned amid widespread criticism of the Indian government’s security preparedness.
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh also resigned from his post after the 11/26 Mumbai attacks.
After the terror attacks, public sentiment went against his character and Deshmukh decided to vacate his position after taking moral responsibility.
Read also | In 1997, Dharmendra Pradhan led a protest against the paper leak in Odisha
Suresh Prabhu, Mamata Banerjee offered to resign
Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister in 2001 and offered to resign after a series of train accidents. However, Prime Minister Vajpayee did not accept her resignation.
Another such case was Suresh Prabhu, who became the Railway Minister after Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Prabhu took moral responsibility after a series of train derailment incidents and offered his resignation in 2017. However, PM Modi rejected his resignation and instead appointed Piyush Goyal to the post in a cabinet reshuffle.
