NRC, farm laws to Pradhan exit: The three times Modi government has retreated

Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation under pressure from students and the youth marks more than a ministerial fall. It is the third time in 12 years that the Modi government has been forced to retreat following mass mobilisation. This is also the second time a minister in the government has stepped down under public pressure, if one includes M J Akbar’s resignation in the wake of the #MeToo movement.Each episode says something important about how this regime understands power, legitimacy and dissent. The pattern is striking: the government resists as long as it can, dismisses the moral force of protest for as long as possible, and moves only when the political cost of standing firm begins to outweigh the cost of surrender.CAA-NRC The first major instance came during the agitation against the C