Ranchi: The first barricade did not hold. Thousands of students pushed towards the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday as police repeatedly appealed to them over loudspeakers to sit down and maintain peace.
“Aap hamare bhai-behen hain, shanti banaye rakhein (you are our brothers and sisters, please maintain peace),” the police announced. But the crowd surged forward, broke through the first heavy barricade and continued to press towards the Assembly, before police used lathis to push them back.
“We are being peaceful. We are here for our rights. Peaceful protest is our right,” a woman protester shouted amid the commotion, before joining the crowd in raising the slogan: “Chheen ke Jharkhand maanga hai, cheen ke adhikar maangenge (We snatched Jharkhand and now we will snatch our rights).”
After a marathon meeting Sunday with a students’ delegation in Ranchi, the Jharkhand government said it has agreed to “98 per cent” of their demands, including the possibility of an ED probe into the 14th JPSC Combined Civil Services Exam (CSE). It did not, however, agree to the demand for cancellation of the JSSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam or a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in government recruitment exams.
The students had begun their march from the Old Vidhan Sabha around 10 am and walked nearly 3 km before security forces stopped them about 1.5 km from the Assembly. Multiple layers of barricades had been put up along the route, with a heavy deployment of police and security personnel and tear-gas arrangements.
The confrontation unfolded as thousands of protesters remained on the road, chanting slogans and refusing to disperse. Police officials continued negotiations with the students, asking them to sit at the designated protest site and continue their agitation there rather than move towards the Assembly.
For many of those in the crowd, simply reaching Ranchi had been a struggle. Students from Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Bokaro and other districts travelled overnight by trains, autos and motorcycles to join the march. Police had been deployed at several border points and students were reportedly stopped from travelling to the state capital.
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‘Students are unstoppable’
Durgesh Kumar, 24, said his car was stopped while he was travelling to Ranchi on Sunday night. He eventually managed to enter the city in an Omni van.
“They stopped me and my friends, but I managed to come. There were thousands like us who were stopped. But see the crowd. These students are unstoppable,” he said.
The protest also drew one of its more symbolic moments when student leader Devendra Nath Mahato, on hunger strike for several days, arrived at the site and was lifted above the crowd. He carried a photograph of former Jharkhand chief minister and movement leader Shibu Soren, who died recently.
“Guruji Shibu Soren fought all his life, he led movements all his life. Had he been alive, he would have joined our protest,” Mahato said. “Guruji is no more with us. We have his photo with us in this protest.”
Mahato, who said he was unable to walk properly, said he had come despite the possibility of a confrontation with the police.
“I have come here risking my life. I cannot walk. There could be a clash with police at any moment, there could be a stampede. I know I cannot run. They can lob tear-gas shells,” he said. “The protest will continue until the government listens to us.”
Monday is Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s birthday. One protester said the students intended to cut a cake for the chief minister at the protest site.
“He should accept our demands and give us a party,” the protester said.
Ranchi City SP Paras Rana said the police had been preparing for the march and were seeking to ensure that it remained peaceful.
“The students have announced that the march will be peaceful, and we are also ensuring that it remains peaceful. We have made extensive arrangements for this,” Rana said. He added that the students would not be allowed to proceed beyond a designated point and that no force would be used up to that point.
“No barbed wire has been installed up to that point,” he said.
The protest also drew political support, with Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha MLA Jairam Kumar Mahato saying opposition parties would naturally extend some support but insisting that the agitation belonged to the students.
“Students are agitated. It is their protest. If their demands are met, they won’t protest,” Mahato said, adding that he would join the ‘Vidhan Sabha Gherao’ march.
(Edited by Stela Dey)