Congress leader Ramesh said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had “deliberately lowered the stature and prestige of the institution of the standing committee simply because of its bipartisan nature”. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI, The Hindu
Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh on Monday (May 18, 2026) moved a privilege notice against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his “derogatory” remarks that Mr. Ramesh allegedly lowered the dignity of Parliament. In his notice, Mr. Ramesh cited the Union Minister’s remarks made at a press conference on May 15 where he reportedly, while responding to a question on why the government did not implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education on the National Testing Agency (NTA), said, “I will not comment on Parliamentary Standing Committee red flags. I will speak about the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE)/Radhakrishnan Committee. The Parliament Standing Committee has members from the Opposition. They write things in a certain manner; you also know that. Hence, I won’t speak on the standing committee.” Mr. Ramesh said these “derogatory” comments reveal the Minister’s “contempt for Parliament”. “He has made these outrageous remarks while presiding over the rot in the Education Ministry that is destroying the future of lakhs of youth across the country,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.The Congress leader said the parliamentary committees were an extension of the Parliament and were rightly referred to as mini-Parliament. “They [comments] are highly derogatory and seek to malign parliamentarians, parliamentary committees and the Parliament of India,” he said. He also underlined that members of a parliamentary standing committee were drawn from all political parties. “The Minister’s impugned comments clearly indicate and reveal his contempt for the Parliament, parliamentary committees, members of the parliamentary committee that are drawn from all political parties and India’s constitutional democracy itself,” the former Union Minister said.Mr. Ramesh said Mr. Pradhan had “deliberately lowered the stature and prestige of the institution of the standing committee simply because of its bipartisan nature”.“The Minister’s comments are also tantamount to imputing dishonourable motives to members of parliamentary committees themselves,” he said.Mr. Ramesh said it was well established that any derogatory references to parliamentary committees or members of parliamentary committees constitute a “gross contempt” of such parliamentary committees. Published - May 18, 2026 08:06 pm IST
