Ranchi: With the protests in Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Munda stadium against the alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Service Commission (JSSC) recruitment exams gaining momentum, a delegation of Congress party leaders is set to meet Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Wednesday.
Congress is a key constituent of the JMM-led government in Jharkhand. While Soren himself reacted to the agitation for the first time Tuesday, assuring the students that they would get “justice”, the Congress leadership seems to be taking steps to reach out to the protesting students.
President of the Ranchi district Congress and former National Vice President of NSUI, Kumar Raja, also visited the protest late Tuesday night. He told ThePrint that he had noted down all the issues raised by the students, and has formed a committee to address them.
The committee comprises AICC Jharkhand in-charge K Raju, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee President Keshav Mahto Kamlesh, four Congress ministers in the current Jharkhand cabinet—Radhakrishna Kishore, Deepika Pandey Singh, Irfan Ansari, and Shilpi Neha Tirkey, Leader of Congress Legislature Party Pradeep, and Raja himself.
“We discussed it and have made a memorandum of the points that we felt were valid…it isn’t about being against the government, we are with the students,” he added. NSUI National President Vinod Jakhar and two secretaries of the Indian Youth Congress are also set to visit the protest site on Wednesday, Raja said.
Raja visited the protest site with a team of doctors for the four protestors who are on an indefinite hunger strike since Tuesday. Apart from these protestors, Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JKLM) leader and student activist Devendra Nath Mahto has also been on a hunger strike over the irregularities in the recruitment exams.
Raja says that he has been meeting the students at the protest site. “We have said that our chief minister, our government, our coalition and our leadership is sensitive towards these issues, and worried about the children. We promised them that we will meet the CM with a delegation, and act as a bridge between them and the government,” Raja said.
“There was a communication gap that we noticed…We don’t want to ignore the students here, like they were ignored in Delhi,” he added.
On the Congress leadership and Rahul Gandhi’s support to the Jharkhand protests, Raja pointed out that he was the convenor of Chhattron ki Gunj in Ranchi. “So if I am here, you know that I’m here with the leadership’s support.”
“The stance of our party is clear—we have to stand with students, whether we are in power or not. If we have to ever choose between being in power or students, we will always be on the students’ side,” he added.
‘No outsourcing, retired bureaucrats’
On the issues that are highlighted in their memorandum, Raja says that they have highlighted the issue of “outsourcing” of the conduct of such examinations to different companies. He says the government itself should have a “set system” for conducting these exams. Additionally, he also said that while these commissions are usually headed by retired bureaucrats, civil servants who are still in service may be better accountable in such cases.
“The students are asking for a CBI probe but the CBI is still conducting its probe into the first and second JPSC exams and there has been no result,” he said.
Raja also listed down the steps taken by the government in the past few days, including several raids in multiple coaching centres, resignation of the former Chief Secretary and JPSC Chairperson L Khiangte, arrest of several persons in connection with the allegation and postponing of the mains exam of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission Combined Civil Services Examination (JPSC CSE).
“If necessary, we will even cancel the exam,” he said, adding, “Our government is constantly trying to look into it.”
‘Not a day’s anger’
Speaking to ThePrint, Raja asserted that this isn’t a day’s anger. He blamed the earlier BJP-led governments in Jharkhand for delaying exams in the state for several years.
“Our effort was to ensure that the exam that has been derailed is brought back on track. But if you give us an entangled thread, it takes some time to untangle it,” he said.
(Edited by Pakhi Khare)