RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday condemned the lathi charge on Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) aspirants seeking a re-examination of the 70th BPSC prelims.

In a video statement, the former Bihar deputy chief minister described the turn of events “very painful”.

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“It is very painful how BPSC aspirants were beaten up by the police. Many people are badly injured in this… We condemn this. The visuals that have surfaced are painful. I am a youth, and I can understand their situation. Firstly, people were protesting against normalization…” he said.

Yadav said his party had raised the issue in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha on November 28, but the state government failed to act promptly.

“We raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha too on November 28. We wrote a letter to the CM but didn’t get any answer… Later on, BPSC clarified that normalisation should not have happened. Why didn’t they clear this earlier?

“On 15-16 December, BPSC announced the cancellation of the exam at one centre. If the paper had been leaked, then why is the exam being cancelled only at one centre? It is a kind of normalisation… That’s why students are protesting for a re-examination. I also support this,” he said.

The Bihar police lathi-charged and used water cannons to disperse the protesting BPSC aspirants in Gandhi Maidan, Patna, on Sunday. The students are demanding the cancellation of the Integrated Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination (CCE) 2024, conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on December 13.

The RJD leader voiced his full support for the demand for a re-examination, stressing that the government needed to address the issues at the heart of the protests rather than dismissing them.

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also criticized the BJP-led double-engine government in the state for “torturing” the protesting students.

Taking to ‘X’, she wrote, “Students were tortured for the second time in three days in Bihar. It is the government’s job to stop corruption, rigging, and paper leaks in examinations. But instead of stopping corruption, students are being prevented from raising their voices.”

“Water cannon and lathi charge on youth in this harsh cold is inhuman. BJP’s double engine has become a symbol of double atrocities on the youth,” she added.

In the wake of these protests, the Bihar Public Service Commission announced the re-examination of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination (CCE) for approximately 12,000 candidates.

The re-exam, scheduled for January 4, 2025, will specifically cover those who appeared at the Bapu Campus Exam Centre in Patna on December 13, 2024.