Akhilesh Yadav likens Delhi protest police action to Emergency, says Pradhan’s exit saved PM

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav speaks in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session of Parliament on July 28, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) likened the police action against students protesting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak to Emergency and claimed that the Narendra Modi government was forced to bow down to an unprecedented student movement.

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Former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation reflected the pressure created by the student agitation, Mr. Yadav said while participating in the Lok Sabha debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractice) Amendment Bill, 2026.

“By removing one ‘Pradhan’, you have effectively saved the ‘Pradhan Mantri’,” the SP leader said, adding that the government had abandoned its “arrogance” after students forced it to accept their demands.

Calling the NEET-UG protests the first student agitation to get active support from parents, Mr Yadav said the government was “shaken” and had no option but to bow down to the protesters. The police used “spiked lathis and electric batons” against the students, describing the scenes in Delhi as reminiscent of the Emergency, he alleged.

When Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju countered that a government responding to protests was preferable to a government imposing emergency, Mr Yadav replied that while he had not witnessed the emergency, “we have seen its echoes in the state capital”.

Mr. Yadav also questioned the effectiveness of the proposed changes and alleged that leaks of exam papers continue despite existing laws. He listened to the government on the outsourcing of the National Testing Agency and said the opposition feared “the whole government could be outsourced”.

During the debate, the SP chief also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the chadhawa chori (theft of gifts) at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Published – 28 Jul 2026 22:02 IST