New Delhi: The Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh has buckled under the pressure of protesting government job aspirants once again. This time, over their demand to roll back its decision to conduct provincial civil services examinations in a staggered manner.
The controversy could not have come at a worse time for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Uttar Pradesh is set to hold by-poll elections on nine seats, including Phulpur in Prayagraj, considered the nerve centre of civil services aspirants in the state.
In the latest setback to the Adityanath government, it was forced to roll back its unilateral and unpopular decision of conducting Provincial Civil Services (prelim) examinations in multiple shifts over two days after intense street protests by thousands of job aspirants. The aspirants were also protesting the government’s decision to hold examinations for the posts of assistant review officers (AROs) and review officers (ROs) through written exams in multiple shifts.
Allegations of paper leaks, corruption, irregularities and the use of unfair means have marred competitive and government recruitment examinations in Uttar Pradesh under the Adityanath government. Photo: Amrendra Patel
After four days of intense protests and sit-in by the aspirants, who gathered outside the office of the Uttar Pradesh Public Services Commission (UPPSC) in Prayagraj, the Adityanath government on November 14 withdrew its decision and conceded the demand of the job seekers to hold the examinations in single shifts on a single day, as it was being held previously. While the state struggled to handle the protests, Adityanath was in Jharkhand, campaigning for the BJP in the assembly election, where he has made several communally-laced statements.
Incidentally, the government took a step back hours after Opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav, holding an election rally in Prayagraj’s Phulpur assembly constituency on November 14, extended his full support to the protestors.
Giving in to the demands of the job aspirants, a senior UPPSC official declared that in view of the protests, the combined state and upper subordinate prelim examinations, 2024 would be conducted in one day in a single shift.
The UPPSC also postponed the examinations for the RO and ARO posts, saying that it had decided to form a committee to conduct an integrated research and analysis of all the facts in the matter, before scheduling fresh examinations. This was being done to ensure that the examinations are held in a transparent, qualitative and fair manner, the government said.
What’s striking is that the UPPSC secretary Ashok Kumar, while announcing the roll back to the protesting aspirants, credited the decision to the intervention of chief minister Adityanath. Notably, when the protests were on for four days, Adityanath did not issue a single public statement on the matter.
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The government’s rollback decision was not as benevolent as it tried to project it. It is noteworthy that for four days it sanctioned the use of force against protestors, and even arrested and detained some youth activists on charges of damaging public property and instigating the aspirants to commit violence. The police also reportedly used lathicharge to disperse the protestors and put up barricades to deter them.
In his statement to the media, Abhishek Bharti, DCP Prayagraj City, said that on November 14 “some unruly elements with criminal antecedents” infiltrated a peaceful protest of 50-60 aspirants and tried to prevent them from communication with the administration for a resolution of the matter. “They were also trying to instigate them (aspirants). These students have been detained,” said the officer. He confirmed that three-four persons have been detained.
The ruling BJP has accused the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) of politicising the grievances of the aspirants and fuelling unrest through its members. The SP has fully backed the protest and among those arrested by the police was Raghvendra Yadav, the national general secretary of the SP’s frontal organisation Lohia Vahini.
Allegations of paper leaks, corruption, irregularities and the use of unfair means have marred competitive and government recruitment examinations in Uttar Pradesh under the Adityanath government.
After cancelling the police recruitment examinations in February, the government in March had scrapped the examinations for 411 posts of RO and ARO. The police constable exams were held afresh in August but the RO and ARO exam schedule was further delayed.
Earlier this month, the government announced that the combined state and upper subordinate services prelim examinations would take place in 41 districts over two days on December 7 and 8, in two shifts on each day.
The government had also decided to hold the RO and ARO examinations in two shifts on December 22 and in one shift on December 23. More than 10.76 lakh aspirants are vying for the few hundred RO and ARO posts.
However, aspirants did not agree with the change in schedule. Taking to the streets, they staged a dharna outside the UPPSC office in Prayagraj demanding a rollback of the examination schedule. The aspirants, holding placards of “one day, one shift” and “no normalisation”, sat on the road in large numbers, raising slogans against the government and the UPPSC. They argued that the system of holding exams in multiple shifts was not consistent and fair, and would increase the chances of paper leaks and unequal testing conditions.
The government, on the other hand, had argued that the examination schedule had been restructured to prevent incidents of paper leaks and for better management. However, this did not cut any ice with the aspirants who vowed to stay on the streets till their demands were met.
Samajwadi Party leader Raghvendra Yadav (in the picture) was arrested for the protests. Photo: Special Arrangement
Given the timing of the protests, they have taken on a broader political significance, increasing pressure on the government to address job creation and ensure free and fair competitive examinations.
“Jobs are not on their (BJP’s) agenda,” said SP chief Yadav during his Phulpur rally.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Yadav pointed out that the government which cannot conduct exams in a single shift was talking about ‘one nation, one election’. “The atmosphere has become ‘Yogi versus pratiyogi’ (competitive exam candidate),” the SP chief said.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the state government was forced to cancel the recruitment examination for police constables and another one for recruiting AROs and ROs. In addition to this, the Adityanath government is being criticised by Dalit and backward caste aspirants for discrepancies in implementing the reservation policy in the recruitment process of 69,000 assistant teachers in public schools. Together with the controversial Agnipath scheme for the army, these measures of the government and the ensuing protests, exposed the BJP’s narrative on the question of providing jobs.
The party’s slump in the general election was testament to this discontent among young, unemployed voters. In July, following the election results, the government also succumbed to the pressure of school teachers and teachers’ associations and after widespread protests — on the streets and online — decided to pause the digital attendance system introduced by it.
While Adityanath has remained silent over the recent protests, deputy chief minister and the BJP’s OBC face in the state Keshav Prasad Maurya has been posting about the issue on social media. When the protests began, he even expressed solidarity with the protestors and asked officials to resolve their grievances quickly and sensitively. He acknowledged that the concerns of the students regarding multiple exam shifts, and standardisation process and the use of private institutions as exam centres, were serious and important.
After the rollback of the decision, Maurya credited the government for taking the “big decision” of accepting the demands of the aspirants. He also accused Yadav’s SP of trying to “spoil the atmosphere and provoking the students in disguise.”
“The BJP government is fully committed to the bright future of the youth. On the demand of standardization, our government under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath ji, respecting the aspirants, has decided to conduct the examination in one day, one shift,” said Maurya.
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Yadav attributed the BJP government’s rollback decision to the upcoming bypoll elections.
“The BJP has developed a habit; fearing public anger, it is finally forced to concede, but only when all its violent methods and negative anti-job politics fail completely. As soon as the BJP government understood the electoral maths and stared at its defeat, it backed off but its arrogance has come in the way, that is why it is accepting only half the demand,” said Yadav.
The SP chief said that the fear of defeat in elections was the only language that the BJP understood.
