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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sat among the young men and women protesting under a makeshift tent.
Rahul Gandhi met students protesting against alleged irregularities in BPSC exams. (Image: X/@rahulgandhi)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday threw his support behind the protests against alleged irregularities in the BPSC exams, visiting the site of the nearly month-old agitation here and spending several minutes with the aggrieved students.
After Gandhi concluded his pre-scheduled programme, during which he also made a veiled reference to the protests with the comment “Bihar has been turned into the epicenter of paper leaks”, a delegation of students met him at a hotel. .
The delegation urged him to visit Gardani Bagh, where many candidates are protesting round the clock demanding cancellation of the Combined Competitive Examination held last month.
Sitamarhi student Suman Saurabh, who was part of the delegation, told PTI, “We requested Rahul Gandhi to come to Gardanibagh, which is our ‘Dharmabhoomi’ and ‘Karmabhoomi’. He said that he will take some time off. He is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, the entire country knows him and his support means a lot to us.
Gandhi sat among the young men and women who were holding their ‘dharna’ under a makeshift tent.
He was seen patiently listening to the candidates who raised slogans like “We want re-examination” and also highlighted their pain over the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar not listening to them.
The city’s popular teacher ‘Ramanshu sir’, who has been extending his support to the protests, sat next to Gandhi and showed him video clips on his mobile phone of the lathi charge on students last month, when the police used water besides charging Showers were used. Despite warnings from the administration, sticks were used to disperse the crowd gathered at the historic Gandhi Maidan.
“The lathi charge reminded me of the British Raj, when those demanding independence were tied up and blown up with mortar shells. We informed Rahul Gandhi about these incidents. He has assured us that he will take up the matter in Delhi. , will raise it inside Parliament as well as on other platforms,” the teacher said.
Another protester, who could not get close to Gandhiji, could be heard shouting from a distance. When the former Congress president turned his gaze towards him, the upset youth said, “We are facing untold hardships at the hands of an insensitive state government. On the exam date, Patna DM slapped a student. Lathicharge” Some Days ago, we had to endure greater humiliation at the hands of the state machinery.”
“A group of students had decided to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister, who despite repeated requests was not ready to meet a delegation here while he was on a tour to Samastipur. It included various student organizations like AISA and NSUI. That group was chased away like cattle by police personnel who ensured that we could not reach the CM’s site,” the student alleged.
Gandhi later released a strongly worded statement on his X handle, expressing support for the protesting students.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims that Bihar is being taken forward by a double engine. But in reality, it is a failing engine crushing the dreams of poor, hard-working students,” Gandhi wrote in Hindi.
He urged the Chief Minister of Bihar to meet the protesting students and “seriously consider their demands” and warned, using imagery from the Mahabharata, that “today’s Ekalavya cannot be forced to cut off his thumb”.
Notably, over four lakh candidates had appeared for the exam at over 900 centers across the state on December 13 after hundreds of people boycotted the exam alleging question paper leak.
The BPSC denied the allegations, but ordered re-examination for over 12,000 candidates who were assigned the Bapu examination complex in the city, leading to resentment among other candidates who argued that they were denied a “level playing field”. Being deprived.
Political players from various parties have extended their support to the demand for re-examination. Jan Suraj Party founder Prashant Kishor has provided legal help to the candidates who have moved the Patna High Court seeking cancellation of the exam. He also ended his two-week long fast two days ago as it became clear that the Chief Minister was unimpressed with his appeal for talks with the students.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had visited Gardnibagh last month and while interacting with the media, he had targeted the government on the BPSC issue.
(This story has not been edited by AyraNews24x7 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,
