Naimisha Pradhan, daughter of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, deleted her Instagram account last month in response to the widespread anger among students against the unfair competitive exams and a demand for her father’s resignation.
This is the latest development as the education minister is being increasingly vilified on social media and users are targeting members of his family who do not hold public office.
Some media sources reported that social media users found Naimisha Pradhan's Instagram account and posted critical comments on her posts. India Today Digital also found no active Instagram account belonging to Dharmendra Pradhan's daughter, despite claims the account had been deactivated.
Some users also posted comments on social media pages linked to Tufts University, where Naimisha Pradhan studied higher education. Online criticism centered on her decision to study abroad while her father serves as India’s Union Education Minister.
Protesters also demanded the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan for not taking any action in response to the paper leaks and other examination-related issues.
Naimisha Pradhan completed a Master of Laws (LLM) from The Fletcher School at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, in 2023. She graduated and joined the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) as a Senior Associate after her graduation.
That has brought into question whether politicians’ family members’ decisions should be part and parcel of political discussion more generally. Some social media users questioned why the education minister’s daughter chose to move overseas, as they felt it raised questions about India’s education system.
But others vehemently criticized the targeting of a family member who does not hold public office or play a role in government policymaking. They argued that criticism should remain focused on Dharmendra Pradhan as Union Education Minister rather than extending to his daughter’s educational and professional decisions.
The controversy comes at the time when pressure on the Union Minister has been mounting amid the student movement. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests have attracted nationwide attention and support from many prominent personalities and opposition leaders.
As a result, the situation has been characterized by demands for transparency in competitive examinations, better controls against paper leaks and for accountability for the allegations of wrong-doings. There have also been clashes between protesters and police in Delhi (see (b) for details) and the public debate on the government’s handling of the situation has been intensified.
Dharmendra Pradhan and the Centre have also attracted criticism from opposition parties, and the minister has rejected allegations against him and accused political opponents of trying to politicise student concerns.
The latest incident has also revived the debate over the limits of online political criticism. Public figures are always going to get a lot of criticism about their official decisions and public conduct, but digital rights organizations have repeatedly warned not to target relatives who don’t play a role in public decision-making.
As the student protests keep going on, the online fight over Naimisha Pradhan’s name has brought to light the extent to which political disputes can extend into the lives of political personalities and their families in the digital space of the public and the family as a whole in our social media age.
