Tension gripped eastern India state of Bihar where thousands of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) aspirants who congregated to protest and seek the cancellation and re-test of 70th BPSC preliminary exams held on December 13, were lathi-charged by police.
On Sunday, thousands of BPSC aspirants gathered at Gandhi Maidan in Bihar’s capital city Patna to demand for the re-examination and meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss the impasse.
On Sunday afternoon, the protesters were joined by Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor at Gandhi Maidan. He stayed there for an hour, during which he extended his support to protesting BPSC aspirants and called for an end to systemic corruption in Bihar’s examinations.
Kishor, who will be actively participating in the upcoming Bihar election and take on Nitish Kumar and his party, even criticised the Bihar CM for prioritising a private visit to New Delhi over addressing the concerns of the youth in his state.
“The chief minister does not have time to listen to the grievances of the protesting aspirants and has gone to Delhi. The protest will continue till their demand for the cancellation of the exam is not accepted. I am always with the protesting students”, Kishor said.
He also proposed that students begin a “relay fast” to reduce the number of people risking their health for the cause.
Soon after he left, towards the evening, the protesting BPSC aspirants made an attempt to march towards the chief minister’s residence which resulted in police action, district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh said.
DM Singh further said that the protesters attempted to jump over barricades while marching from Gandhi Maidan towards JP Golumber.
As the scuffle between the protesters and police intensified, the cops resorted to lathi-charge and used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
“The protesters gathered at Gandhi Maidan despite the administration’s warning that any demonstration there would be considered unauthorised. The district police has registered an FIR against 21 known persons, including Prashant Kishor, his party president Manoj Bharti, city-based tutor Ramanshu Mishra and 600-700 unknown persons for organising a gathering of students at Gandhi Maidan even after denial of permission by the authorities”, Singh was quoted as saying in a report by PTI.
Also, some protestors were detained by the cops near JP Golumber when they refused to vacate the roads.
Singh further said, “Water cannons and mild force were used to disperse protestors as some of them blocked traffic by lying on the roads near JP Golumber.”
“The government has been sensitive towards the concerns of the youth. The chief secretary has agreed to meet a five-member delegation approved by BPSC aspirants who have been pressing for an audience with the CM or some highly placed official. But protestors seemed to be disorganised and unable to nominate five persons,” DM Singh said.
The protests in Bihar began on the day the prelim exam was conducted on December 13 and over the time, have received support from activists, educationalists and politicians especially from the Opposition parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, CPI (M-L), and Jan Suraaj.
BSPC aspirants protesting in Gandhi Maidan and other parts of the state have been demanding the cancellation of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination (CCE), 2024 conducted by the BPSC over allegations of question paper leak.
As per the allegations by the candidates who appeared for the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) conducted by BPSC, there were similarities between the questions in the exam and model papers from coaching institutes. They also complained about the poor quality of the question paper.
It all started when on the day of the examination, a disturbance occurred at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar (Bapu Examination Complex) in Patna, where the question papers were delayed. Following this, BPSC decided to re-conduct the exam for 12,000 candidates who appeared for the test at the centre on January 4, 2025.
Soon after on December 18, protests took a bigger form where students gathered in large numbers, demanding the complete cancellation of the BPSC exam. The candidates also argued that re-examination in just one centre would be unfair.
Several students who appeared for the examination noted that the questions at the recruitment exam matched with model papers provided by coaching institutes.
With inputs from agencies.
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Boiling Bihar: BPSC aspirants demanding re-exam lathi-charged, FIR against Prashant Kishor
