E-Paper
Exam row: BJP leaders stage sit-in outside CM’s residence; seek Soren’s resignation
Led by their state unit chief Aditya Sahu and leader of the Opposition, Babulal Marandi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and leaders staged a massive protest and laid siege to the chief minister’s residence, seeking a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in recruitment exams in the state, besides calling for the resignation of CM Hemant Soren
Led by their state unit chief Aditya Sahu and leader of the Opposition, Babulal Marandi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and leaders staged a massive protest and laid siege to the chief minister’s residence, seeking a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in recruitment exams in the state, besides calling for the resignation of CM Hemant Soren.
Rajya Sabha MP Aditya Sahu said the state’s youth had been protesting and fasting unto death at Jaipal Singh Stadium for 17 days, but the government had failed to take notice. Sahu said they were heading to the CM’s residence to support the students when police stopped them, hence the leaders staged a sit-in protest there to voice the students’ cause. Subsequently, the BJP leaders were arrested.
“The Jharkhand government is oppressive and dictatorial. The manner in which BJP leaders were forcibly dragged and bundled into a bus is not a good sign for democracy. Is there no longer a right to express views democratically in the state? This implies that the state government intends to run a dictatorial and oppressive regime. Every single student and citizen will now launch an aggressive agitation against this government,” said Sahu.
Sahu also questioned the Congress party, asking why it remained completely silent regarding the oppression committed by its own government while staging protests and laying siege to the PM’s residence in Delhi.
“If the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have any mettle, they should pressure Hemant Soren to fulfill the students’ demand for a CBI inquiry or immediately withdraw their support from the state government. The students’ demand is clear: a CBI inquiry into all examinations, action against the guilty, and their imprisonment. If the Congress retains any sense of morality, it must withdraw support from the JMM government,” he added.
LoP Marandi said students had been agitating for a CBI inquiry for the past fortnight but the government was merely fobbing them off under the guise of talks.
“The health of the students on hunger strike is deteriorating, yet the government remains a passive spectator. The JMM-Congress government has openly engaged in selling JPSC and JSSC jobs. This constitutes an injustice against the lakhs of poor, Dalit, tribal, rural, and hardworking youths of Jharkhand who dream of securing employment after years of toil. The BJP will fight against this injustice inflicted upon Jharkhand’s students at every level, from the streets to the legislative assembly, and will ensure they receive justice.” said Marandi.
As BJP leaders laid siege to the CM’s residence and blocked the arterial road, security personnel took them into preventive detention, transported them to Khelgaon and held them there before releasing them in the evening.
Reacting to the protest, the ruling party members accused the BJP of playing politics and ‘hijacking’ the students’ protest. “Today the masks have been removed. Till yesterday, the BJP was playing politics from behind the curtain. It’s good that they have come out into the open today. It’s unfortunate that they have hijacked the cause of the genuine students,” said Congress leader and rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh.
