As he sits on the stage, Devashish Kumar watches the swelling crowd of protesters before him. Around him, his fellow protesters are preparing to chant again, and Devashish, too, takes a deep breath to shout “Jharkhand Sarkar Hosh Me Aao [Jharkhand government, come to your senses]”.
“Students in my district have been pooling money for days for the July 29 mobilisation,” he says as he catches his breath. “We boarded a bus for Ranchi but were stopped near Gandhi Maidan in Hazaribagh. We feared we’d be late and took a train to Ranchi. When we saw how many had already gathered, we knew we had done the right thing by not turning back.”
Devashish, a government job aspirant from Hazaribagh, is one of hundreds of youngsters who have gathered in Ranchi since July 25 to demand action over irregularities in recently held competitive government exams. The protest, which began as a small gathering at Ranchi’s Bapu Vatika inspired by the NEET protests, has now swelled into a wider student movement, gaining support from both political parties and civil society groups.
At the heart of the protests are allegations of paper leaks in the Jharkhand civil service examinations. Lakhs of youngsters take Jharkhand’s government recruitment tests each year.
A total of 11 people have been arrested in the JPSC exam leak, which culminated in the resignation of JPSC Chairman Lalbiaktluanga (L.) Khiangte. But as the agitation gathers steam, protesters are now demanding sweeping reforms in Jharkhand’s recruitment and education system, long rife with allegations of irregularities.
The mobilisation, led by the JSSC-JPSC Bhrashtachar Mukht Abhiyan, comes days after massive protests over alleged NEET irregularities culminated in the resignation of the Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.
For their part, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said that “strict action will be taken against the guilty”.
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But students remain unsatisfied with the government response. “For many of us, this is yet another chapter in recruitment scandals that the state has seen since it was founded 26 years ago,” one protester said.
Preamble at protest site
The mobilisation
Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium – the site of the Jharkhand protests — is iconic for many reasons. Built in 1978 over a pond reclaimed by thousands of Ranchi residents, the stadium, named after the legendary Adivasi icon, politician and Olympic gold medallist Jaipal Singh Munda, has a history of resistance movements. In 2008, a proposal to demolish the stadium and replace it with a commercial shopping complex and a five-star hotel sparked protests, leading to the plan being dropped.
It’s little wonder then that the site was chosen for the student protest. When it began, disparate groups of aspirants were protesting in different parts of Ranchi. But the protests turned into a larger agitation on July 29, when organisers called for a “Maha Andolan” and a Constitution march, urging aspirants from every district to converge on the state capital.
Nearly 5,000 students responded. Carrying copies of the Constitution and the Tricolour, they marched peacefully through Ranchi, turning what had begun as an examination-related protest into a broader assertion of constitutional rights, equal opportunity and accountability.
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Since that mobilisation, protesters have gathered regularly, galvanised by the success of the NEET protests. The crowd has also become more diverse — from student leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the All India Students’ Association (AISA), and the Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS) to parents, social activists, civil society members and teachers associated with competitive examination coaching centres visiting the protest site.
‘Non-partisan’ protests
Each day begins with the national anthem as photos of Birsa Munda, Ambedkar and Gandhi line the stage. The site has also become a community space. Throughout the day, residents stop by with packets of food, drinking water, raincoats, mats and other essentials. Some donate money, dropping it into the donation box on the stage, while others simply spend time speaking to the students.
At the site, a woman stood speaking to a student protester as her child played nearby.
“I’ve come to support them. Support the future of the nation that’s struggling against a corrupt system,” she said.
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In response, the administration has tightened security across the city, installing barricades at several locations around the protest venue and on major roads leading to it. Protesters, however, claim the increased security is a response to the swelling numbers.
At the protest, posters mocked the credibility of the recruitment system. One banner jokingly expanded JPSC as ‘Jhol-Jhal Public Service Commission’, while another invoked the success of the NEET protests, saying: “Jab kendra mein 56-inch wale ko jhukna pada, to rajya mein 56-seat wale ko bhi jhukna padega [When a man with a 56-inch chest in the Centre had to bend, someone with 56 seats in the state will have to follow].”
Despite backing from student outfits, political party flags were largely absent. Instead, protesters carried only the Indian national flag and copies of the Constitution, underscoring their attempt to project the movement as non-partisan.
Despite this, political parties participated in the protests for “moral support”.
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“We are here as students because people still identify us as students,” Devendra Mahato, a Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) leader, told The Indian Express. “For 26 years, Jharkhand’s youth have repeatedly suffered due to irregularities in recruitment.”
Protesters say the rain has also made things challenging.
“With little shelter from the rain, dozens of students spend the night huddled together on the stage whenever showers begin,” said Vinay Kumar, one of the organisers. “Others have found refuge in rented rooms offered by Ranchi residents, who have opened their doors to students travelling from distant districts.”
The protesters are now preparing to intensify the agitation. On August 6, they will march to the Vidhan Sabha.
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Student organisers say they expect support from a wider cross-section of student groups and civil society organisations.
“We have received tremendous support from ordinary people,” said one organiser, Vinay Kumar. “But basic facilities have remained a challenge. We have repeatedly sought electricity, but it has not been provided. We even brought utensils to cook for ourselves, but were told we could not prepare food here. That’s why we placed a donation box. People are keeping this movement alive by contributing whatever they can.”
Protesters, too, want it to remain non-political.
“While some have genuinely supported the students without bringing politics into the movement, certain coaching operators and political interests were trying to use the issue for their own benefit,” Chandan Kumar, a protester from Dhanbad, says. “We don’t want that. This is a students’ movement, and it should remain focused on students’ issues.”