Thousands of students protested outside the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) Gate number 2 in Prayagraj on Monday, demanding the conduct of the Provincial Civil Services (PCS ) prelims and Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO) examinations in one shift. They held placards and shouted slogans against normalisation.
The students started gathering at the UPPSC in the morning, and by noon, thousands, including women, marched towards UPPSC Gate no 2.
Neither the Barricading nor senior officials’ attempts to pacify them yielded any results. Students got into an ‘altercation’ with the police, and the protestors broke the barricade and assembled outside the UPPSC gate.
The Police had to use ‘mild force’ when some students became aggressive and tried to enter the UPPSC. The students dispersed but soon reassembled. Meanwhile, DCP city Abhishek Bharti denied using force on students and added that the students were protesting peacefully.
Heavy forces, including paramilitary, have been deployed outside UPPSC and on routes towards the commission, where around 8000 students, including locals, are protesting.
The students are distributing pamphlets saying “na batenge na hatenge’ and raising anti-government slogans too. Social media is also abuzz, and UPPS@_no normalisation has been trending on X since morning.
Talking to the media, Pratiyogi Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti member Prashant Pandey said UPPSC introduced arbitrary changes and is implementing normalization, changing the old examination pattern. The students are demanding that the examinations be conducted in one day/shift.
Earlier on 5 November, the UPPSC announced that the RO-ARO preliminary examination would be held in three shifts on December 22 and 23, and the PCS preliminary examination would be held in two shifts on December 7 and 8.
On Sunday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav expressed support for aspirants demanding examinations on the same date, saying his party stood shoulder to shoulder with their “legitimate demand”.
In a statement issued by the party, Yadav said that the BJP did not recruit candidates but indulged in “chhalav (cheating)”. “When one (act of) cheating is caught, the BJP introduces another (form of) cheating.” Yadav claimed the aspirants had understood the BJP’s “conspiracy” to conduct the examinations in two shifts. Yadav also alleged that this was a trick by the BJP to ensure that youngsters did not get government jobs and remained unemployed, which would eventually force them to work as cheap labourers. “This will keep filling the coffers of the 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 had understood this vicious electoral cycle and the BJP’s intention. “That is why they are now taking a pledge to defeat the BJP in the elections.”
(With inputs from HT reporter Farhan Ahmed Siddiqui in Prayagraj and ANI)
