NEET Paper Leak: KSU Demands Dharmendra Pradhan's Resignation; Police Use Water Cannons On Protestors

The Kerala Students' Union (KSU) state committee staged a night march to Raj Bhavan, demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak scandal. The demonstration was organized as part of a broader, nationwide agitation led by the NSUI. As the protest escalated, police deployed water cannons to disperse the demonstrating KSU members.
 

Midnight March Over NEET-UG Paper Leak

In a major escalation, the KSU state committee organized a dramatic night march to the Raj Bhavan, demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The protest, aligned with a broader nationwide agitation spearheaded by the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), focused on the massive controversy surrounding the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak scandal. 

As demonstrators pushed toward the Governor's official residence, the situation grew tense, forcing the police to deploy heavy water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Allegations of CPM-BJP Collusion at MG University

The unrest extended to Mahatma Gandhi University on Tuesday, where KSU state president Aloysius Xavier inaugurated a protest march against what he termed the "saffronisation" of the varsity’s administration. Xavier claimed that a calculated effort is underway to dismantle Kerala’s higher education system.

Addressing the gathering, Xavier alleged a covert political alliance between rival parties. “CPM and BJP colluded in the senate appointments to place govt in the dock. Sangh Parivar and CPM shared the senate member positions among themselves. Existing Left syndicate and current registrar Bismi Gopalakrishnan, who was a left teachers’ organisation head at the School of Legal Thought, abetted this move. The silence of the syndicate and the registrar on the matter is suspicious,” he said.

Xavier further criticized the visible influence of right-wing groups on campus leadership. “Left service organisation functionaries are paving the way for Sangh Parivar in the university as never before. BJP functionaries coming to the university and adorning VC with a shawl is a disgraceful incident. While appointing subject expert teachers too, VC made politics alone the criterion,” he said.

The KSU leader warned that the student body would launch aggressive agitations in the coming days targeting the Governor, who he accused of systematically destroying and saffronising the state's academic institutions.

Attendance Scandal Ignites Protests at Maharaja’s College

Simultaneously, the KSU unit at Maharaja’s College has locked down the campus with fierce protests demanding the immediate resignation of principal-in-charge Shajila Beevi. The student union alleges that Beevi illegally granted a semester promotion to former SFI state secretary PM Arsho, violating university guidelines and damaging the college's academic credibility. The campus outrage comes exactly a week after the MG University syndicate let Beevi off with a simple warning. An investigation had confirmed that Arsho was promoted to the seventh semester of an integrated MA programme despite recording a mere 10% attendance during his sixth semester.

Reacting strongly to the syndicate's leniency, the KSU unit committee issued a sharp public statement:

“Beevi has tarnished the reputation of Maharaja’s College; she should immediately step down from her position. Those who sit in positions of authority and roll out the red carpet for party loyalists should remember this institution belongs to the students, not to party slaves,” stated KSU unit committee in its statement.