Several Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad workers were detained on Tuesday after clashing with police during a march towards the Jharkhand Assembly, PTI reported. The workers were demonstrating against the use of lathis and tear gas on students a day earlier during a protest over alleged irregularities in a civil services examination.

The detention came as the Bharatiya Janata Party called for a statewide bandh from 8 am to midnight on Tuesday in protest against the police action, PTI reported.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the BJP.

The Mahagathbandhan alliance, led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and comprising the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, is in power in Jharkhand.

The protests in Jharkhand began on July 25, inspired by the agitation across the country against alleged mismanagement of national competitive examinations. The protesters have been holding a sit-in at Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, with six demonstrators on fast.

On Monday, thousands of students marched towards the Assembly as part of their protest. Several protesters were injured after police lathi-charged them and fired tear gas. Despite the police action, protesters breached several barricades and reached the Assembly premises. The House had already been adjourned for the day.

In response to the march, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the government respected the students’ right to raise their concerns and that their demands would be addressed with seriousness and sensitivity.

“In a democracy, it is your right to express your views, and it is the government’s responsibility to respect your voice,” he said in a social media post.

Soren assured the students that the government sought to “make the examination system more transparent, technology-enabled, secure, and accountable”.

Youth protests

The protesters have demanded the cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission Combined Preliminary Test held on April 19.

They have also sought probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate into alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.

On Sunday, the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel three examinations, including the Jharkhand Public Service Commission Combined Civil Services.

However, students have continued their protest, demanding that the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level examination is also cancelled and a probe by the CBI into all state public commission tests.

The government has refused to cancel the graduate-level examination, saying that it was conducted under the monitoring of the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court. It has instead proposed a high-level judicial inquiry headed by a retired judge to investigate allegations related to the examination.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: In Jharkhand, youth lose years of their lives trying to clear the JPSC exams

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