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Thousands of students protested outside the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) Gate No. 2 in Prayagraj on Monday, demanding to conduct the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) Preliminary and Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO) examinations in a single shift. Protested. , They held placards and raised slogans against normalisation.
Students started gathering at UPPSC in the morning and by afternoon thousands of people, including women, started marching towards UPPSC Gate No. 2.
Neither the barricades nor the efforts of senior officials to convince them yielded any results. The students had an ‘argument’ with the police and the protesters broke the barricade and gathered outside the UPPSC gate.
When some students became aggressive and tried to enter UPPSC, the police had to use ‘mild force’. The students dispersed but soon gathered again. Meanwhile, DCP City Abhishek Bharti denied using force on the students and said that the students were protesting peacefully.
Heavy forces, including paramilitary forces, have been deployed outside UPPSC and on the routes leading to the commission, where around 8000 students, including locals, are protesting.
Students are distributing pamphlets saying “Na Batenge Na Hatenge” and are also raising anti-government slogans. There is a stir on social media too and UPPS@_no normalization is trending on social media since morning.
While talking to the media, Prashant Pandey, member of the Competitive Students’ Struggle Committee, said that UPPSC made arbitrary changes and is implementing normalization by changing the old exam pattern. Students demand that the examinations should be conducted in one day/shift.
Earlier on November 5, UPPSC had announced that the RO-ARO preliminary exam will be conducted on December 22 and 23 in three shifts and the PCS preliminary exam will be conducted on December 7 and 8 in two shifts.
On Sunday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav expressed support for the candidates demanding holding the exams on the same date, saying his party stands shoulder to shoulder with their “just demand”.
In a statement issued by the party, Yadav said that the BJP did not recruit candidates but indulged in “chhalaav (fraud)”. “When one (act) of fraud is caught, the BJP introduces another (form) of fraud.” Yadav claimed that the candidates have understood the BJP’s “conspiracy” to conduct the examination in two shifts. Yadav also alleged that this is a ploy by the BJP to ensure that the youth do not get government jobs and remain unemployed, which will ultimately force them to work as cheap labourers. “This will keep filling the coffers of BJP’s profiteers and they will keep donating to the BJP, which will keep misusing it to win elections,” the Kannauj MP said. He claimed that the unemployed youth have understood this vicious cycle and the intentions of the BJP. “So they are now vowing to defeat the BJP in the elections.”
(HT reporter Farhan Ahmed Siddiqui in Prayagraj with inputs from ANI)
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