Daijiworld Media Network - Ranchi
Ranchi, Aug 11: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a statewide bandh in Jharkhand on Tuesday, August 11, in support of students protesting alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations and against police action during their agitation.
Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu said the bandh would begin at 8 am and continue until midnight. Essential services will remain outside the scope of the shutdown.
The bandh call was announced by BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi, amid an escalating confrontation between the Hemant Soren government and student groups over alleged paper leaks, irregularities in competitive examinations and demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The BJP accused the state government of ignoring students' grievances and attempting to suppress their movement through force instead of addressing their demands through dialogue. The party said it would take to the streets in support of the protesters and press for an independent CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted in the state.
The bandh follows clashes between police and job aspirants near the Jharkhand Assembly in Ranchi during a 'Vidhan Sabha Gherao' march organised by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch. Police used water cannons, tear gas and lathicharge to disperse demonstrators after they allegedly breached multiple barricades near the Assembly.
Protesters alleged that several demonstrators, including women, were injured during the police action. Ranchi City SP Paras Rana, however, said four policemen were injured after protesters allegedly resorted to stone pelting.
The BJP criticised the police action, alleging that students were subjected to tear gas, water cannons and lathicharge and that police personnel dismantled tents put up at the protest site. Marandi described Monday's action against the students as “barbaric”.
Marandi said students had been protesting at the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium in Ranchi for the past 15 days, demanding cancellation of examinations they consider controversial and a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and claims of jobs being sold through JPSC and JSSC examinations.
“The students were given the runaround under the guise of holding talks,” Marandi alleged, accusing the government of stalling on their demands. He said questions had been raised over the credibility of the state's recruitment process and claimed that students had lost faith in state investigating agencies.
Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has announced a student march on Tuesday as part of its agitation against alleged irregularities in JSSC and JPSC examinations. The march will begin at 11.30 am from the Old Assembly Ground at Tinkonia and proceed towards the new Assembly building.
Student activist Devendra Nath Mahto, who has been on a hunger strike for nine days over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand's recruitment examinations, was admitted to a hospital in Ranchi after his health deteriorated. Doctors described his condition as critical following a drastic drop in his blood sugar level.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, meanwhile, praised police and administrative officials for handling the situation with restraint, sensitivity and responsibility. Addressing students in a post on X, Soren said raising demands peacefully was their democratic right and that it was the government's responsibility to respect their voice.
Soren said the government wanted to make the examination system more transparent, technology-enabled, secure and accountable, and called for students' participation in the process.
In a major development amid the agitation, the Jharkhand CID arrested former JPSC chairman L Khiangte in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations, sources said.
Additional Director General of CID Manoj Kaushik confirmed Khiangte's arrest, saying the former JPSC chief was taken into custody in connection with alleged irregularities in examinations conducted by the commission. Khiangte had reportedly been questioned by the CID multiple times in connection with the case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also entered the matter and registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) based on an FIR registered by the CID. The agency is investigating the alleged financial trail linked to irregularities in the JPSC 14th preliminary examination.
The protesting JPSC-JSSC aspirants are demanding cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination, a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities and comprehensive reforms in the state's recruitment examination system.
The BJP has maintained that the proposed CBI probe should cover all recruitment examinations where allegations of paper leaks or other irregularities have surfaced.
The prolonged student agitation, police action, arrest of a former JPSC chairman and the intervention of the ED have turned the recruitment examination controversy into a major political flashpoint between the Jharkhand government and the Opposition.