Jharkhand student protest enters 18th day amid BJP bandh, ABVP march

The protest by students over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment exams entered its 18th day on Tuesday, with the BJP observing a state-wide bandh, while ABVP announced that it would organise a march to the state assembly during the day.

The saffron party called the bandh from 8 am to midnight to protest against the police action on demonstrators during their march to Vidhan Sabha on Monday.

The students and job aspirants have been agitating since July 25, demanding transparency in recruitment examinations, reforms in the functioning of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission(JSSC), cancellation of several examinations and an independent investigation by the CBI or a panel of retired high court judges from outside the state.

 

Six demonstrators have also been observing an indefinite hunger strike to press their demands, with two of them hospitalised.

The sixth round of talks between the Jharkhand government and the protesting students under the JPSC-JSSC Manch failed to reach any breakthrough on Sunday, with both sides accusing each other of not being serious about resolving the matter.

While the government panel said it was unfortunate that the students did not lift the agitation despite the authorities conceding to "98 per cent of their demands", the other side insisted that the claim was not true, and stuck to their demands.

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which strongly condemned the alleged police atrocities on students on Monday, will take out a 'Vidhan Sabha March' during the day.

They will hold the procession from the old Vidhan Sabha to the new assembly premises.

The agitation by students escalated on Monday, with the police using water cannons and lathi-charging protesters to prevent their march to the assembly, even as the ED launched a money laundering probe into the "anomalies".

Several protesters claimed they were injured, while Ranchi police said 14 policemen suffered injuries during protests.

The police used water cannons near Jagannathpur Temple and fired tear gas shells as protesters moved towards the assembly.

The Jharkhand CID also arrested former JPSC chairperson L Khiangte in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment examinations, a top official of the state probe agency said.

His arrest took the number of people arrested by the state agency in the case to 20.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who turned 51 on Monday, made a fresh appeal to the protesting students to resolve their grievances through "dialogue and trust", while accusing opposition BJP of attempting to mislead the agitators for political gains.

The BJP, which gheraoed Soren's house before the start of the march to the assembly, has called for a state-wide bandh on Tuesday to protest against the "use of force" against the students.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi condemned the police action, saying peaceful protests should not be met with violence. The Congress is an ally of the JMM-led coalition in Jharkhand.

His remarks drew a sharp response from the BJP, which accused him of double standards since the Congress is part of the Hemant Soren-led ruling alliance in Jharkhand. Union minister J P Nadda alleged that Gandhi was an integral part of the state government and questioned whether he could hear the students' voices.

The state government said it has agreed to cancel the 14th JPSC examination and backlog examinations of 2023 and 2025. Higher and Technical Education Minister Sudivya Kumar said the government had also voluntarily agreed to an ED probe, after evidence of financial irregularities emerged.

On the JSSC-CGL examination, however, Kumar said the Jharkhand government could not order its cancellation because it was conducted under court monitoring. The government has proposed a committee headed by a retired high court judge to oversee the CID investigation, but the protesters rejected the proposal.

He said reforms in the JPSC and JSSC standard operating procedures were also proposed, with inputs from IIT-ISM Dhanbad, IIM-Ranchi and XLRI Jamshedpur.