RANCHI: Students in Jharkhand will continue their agitation despite Chief Minister Hemant Soren agreeing to their demand for the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination and all exams conducted by the TDPL agency.
While the protesting students thanked the Chief Minister for the decision, they said they would not withdraw their agitation as their demand for a CBI inquiry had not yet been met.
“The demand for a CBI inquiry has not yet been met, and we will continue our agitation until it is ordered. We have won a major battle, but there is still more to be done. We thank the Chief Minister for finally heeding our demand after 24 days. However, we will continue our hunger strike until a CBI inquiry is ordered,” said JPSC JSSC Reform Manch leader Ravindra Paswan.
Another Manch leader, Piyush Kumar Singh, said not all their demands had been addressed and that the protesters would take a final decision after thoroughly assessing the Chief Minister’s announcement.
“We first want to ascertain whether the JSSC notification has actually been withdrawn. The final merit list was prepared by TDPL. We also need clarity on the government’s stand on the CDPO and FSO examinations. The issue of the age cut-off also remains unresolved. We had demanded the 2018 cut-off, but the government’s position is still unclear. Similarly, we want to know the government’s stand on a CBI inquiry,” Singh said.
He added that the agitation would continue until consensus was reached on all the issues.
“We had made it clear from day one that we would not withdraw until our last demand was addressed. Our protest will continue,” Singh said.
He added that Deepika and Dr Irfan Ansari had visited the protesters the previous night and appealed to them to end their hunger strike, but the protesters refused.
On the 24th day of the students’ protest, Soren announced on Monday that the government had agreed to the demand for cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination and all exams conducted by the TDPL agency.
The Chief Minister also announced that all recruitment examinations held since 2014 would be investigated. The announcement was made on Monday night following a special Cabinet meeting at the state secretariat in Ranchi.