B
JP has stepped up its criticism of the JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand in light of the recent crackdown on students demonstrating against the irregularities in recruitment exams held by the state government as the party has demanded that Congress should withdraw its support to the coalition government in Jharkhand. "If Congress is sincere towards students, then it must withdraw its support to the government of Hemant Soren," said Babulal Marandi, an opposition leader in the Jharkhand assembly, also a BJP leader, while commenting on the issue.
It happened when the Jharkhand Police resorted to the use of batons and tear gas shells against a mob of students who were coming to the state Assembly to protest against irregularities in recruitment exams on August 10.
As Congress is an ally of the Soren-led alliance in Jharkhand, it seems like the BJP has taken this as an issue of total inconsistency between the sympathies of Congress and its support to the government.
The fundamental problem relating to this unrest arises from the set of grievances that have been voiced against malpractice and irregularities in the competitive exams conducted in Jharkhand through bodies such as the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.
The protesting candidates have called for cancellation of the 14th JPSC preliminary exam, along with an investigation by the CBI or the court into the malpractice and question paper leakage cases related to all other recruitments.
Other requirements involve the need for conducting the JPSC and JSSC examinations transparently in the future, action against those involved in the malpractices in the past, and the protection of the interests of the qualified candidates.
It is worth noting that this is not a new problem in the political scenario in Jharkhand because it is one of the recurrent grievances over the last two years.
The tensions were intensified significantly on August 10 when the students and candidates decided to move towards the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly in order to deliver their complaints in person.
The following details regarding the situation were published concerning the event: the Jharkhand police used lathi charges, tear gas, and water canons to drive the protesters away.
The official version of police authorities states that some protesters started acting aggressively by breaking the security line and throwing stones at the police, which was denied by some of the opposition party leaders and student representatives.
In order to settle the growing tension, the government of Jharkhand decided to negotiate with representatives of protesting students and organized an 11-member delegation for the purposes of negotiations between the administration and protesters.
However, the political pressure is being laid upon Rahul Gandhi, who is the president of Congress Party and also the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha as his party is one of the constituents of the ruling alliance in the very government that had conducted the police action. Addressing a press conference held in Delhi, Gandhi was firm in his statement directed at the protesting students of Jharkhand that Congress Party condemns any violence done on protesting students irrespective of their place of residence.
He went on to say that with respect to any peaceful protest, Congress Party is against any kind of violence done to protesters and that there could be no room for any confusion about it.
In his recent blog post on social networking site, X, he had also said that any violence on protesting students of Jharkhand is condemnable and that protesting students have the right to protest peacefully and dialogue should be the only way forward. However, he has faced heavy criticism as Congress Party is one of the parties in the alliance with JMM government that carried out the police action.
Besides Marandi’s plea to the Congress to disassociate itself from the alliance, a few prominent leaders of the BJP have also taken this chance to initiate an all-out attack on Rahul Gandhi and the conduct of his party in Parliament.
On this account, BJP MP Anurag Thakur has said that it was now the time for justice for the young people of Jharkhand, considering the way they had been hit by the sticks and behaved upon, which shows the mindset of Gandhi, who comes from a party that runs the state.
Moreover, according to Thakur, Gandhi and his Congress had demanded answers from the Union Home Minister concerning the matter when Gandhi was not even there in the House.
Besides, BJP has also demanded a complete shutdown in protest of the police force, considering that the whole issue would be brought forward to show the incapacity of the Congress to run the state government.
However, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren has taken the side of the state and said that the students resorted to protests due to their frustration and there were no grounds to say anything like that.
Obviously, such an argument did not help to calm the political situation, since the opposition leaders have been criticizing Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his silence about this topic although the BJP is constantly asking for answers from other parties.
Yesterday, the President of the Congress Party Mallikarjun Kharge has noted that the position of the opposition has remained unchanged regarding this topic.
More precisely, he pointed out that the assault on the students of Jharkhand by the police on July 20 was one of the main issues that Congress still talks about along with the robbery of the money for Ram Temple and the need to receive an apology from the government.
It should be noted that during the discussion of this problem in the parliament, when BJP MPs screamed slogans at Rahul Gandhi concerning the actions of the Jharkhand police, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has mentioned that Rahul Gandhi has met the protesters from Jharkhand.
