Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has urged Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to meet the students protesting against the alleged irregularities in competitive examinations conducted for state government jobs since July 25.

In a letter on Friday, Gandhi told Soren that he personally meeting the students will help “reinforce the government’s commitment to resolve their concerns”.

The Mahagathbandhan alliance, led by Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and comprising the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, is in power in Jharkhand.

Gandhi also alleged in the letter that the Indian education system had been “captured by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party and transformed into a tool for the exploitation and oppression of students”.

It is “no longer the robust” knowledge system that it used to be a decade ago, he wrote.

Demonstrators in Jharkhand have been holding a sit-in at Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, with six protesters on an indefinite hunger strike.

Gandhi said that the protest in the state has been peaceful and the demands of the students are legitimate.

He also appreciated that the Jharkhand government had initiated a dialogue with the students through a committee constituted by Soren. However, he noted that while the government has agreed on several of the students’ demands, the protests were continuing, with some students still on a hunger strike.

On August 9, the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel three examinations, including the preliminary examination of the 14th state Public Service Commission Combined Civil Services, on the protesters demand.

However, students have continued their protest, demanding that the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission-Combined Graduate Level examination also be cancelled.

The government has refused to cancel the graduate-level examination, saying that it was conducted under the monitoring of the Supreme Court and the Jharkhand High Court. It has instead proposed a high-level judicial inquiry headed by a retired judge to investigate allegations related to the examination.

“The Congress party believes that the right to peaceful protest as enshrined in the Constitution of India is one of the central pillars of our democracy,” the Congress MP wrote.

He added that his party has offered full support to students protesting paper leaks and irregularities in the education system over the last few months.

He urged Soren to take action to resolve the students’ issues.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

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