It has been around five months since the BJP led alliance came to power in Tripura with the promise of delivering “good days”. The major displeasure among the voters against the previous government was the lack of jobs— resulting in the downfall of the Marxist stronghold in the state. Mostly, the youth were the deciding voters who rallied for a new government in the state under the saffron flag. And it happened too with the voters supporting the catchy slogan “Chalo Paltai” — “Let’s Change” coined by the BJP. One of the major promises, which acted as the pillar behind the success, was a job for every household in Tripura.

However, within five months there is a growing resentment among the youth against the government’s policy regarding jobs. In an interview to a national daily,  Chief Minister Biplab Deb had spoken about creating 7 lakh jobs within 30 months. However, the ground scenario says a different story.

The recent dramatic decision to terminate ongoing recruitments is adding fuel to the resentment against the ruling dispensation. The order included the cancellations of the exams to be held under TPSC — Tripura Public Service Commission and this sudden ruling is going to affect the 14000 candidates who were to sit for the exams. Even the candidates were not informed and were disappointed to know the postponement of the interviews after the arrival at the scheduled time.  

It is to be mentioned that TPSC is an autonomous body and the cancelled recruitments were initiated by the earlier CPM led Left government. Such decisions give strength to speculations that the government is trying to dictate an autonomous body like TPSC. This resolution is also going to nullify the interviews held under the monitoring of the Tripura High Court on January, 2018 — conducted for TCS (Tripura Civil Services) and TPS (Tripura Police Services).

There are many questions from various quarters of the state — Why the government abruptly annulled all the existing recruitments? Or is this due to political reasons as these were the initiatives of the earlier government? Is it  right for the government to invalidate the interviews taken under the jurisdiction of the High Court? Can a government control an autonomous body like TPSC?

The many questions are going through the minds of the candidates who are affected due to this unexpected decision. The candidates have been preparing for years — spending huge amount of money for taking classes in branded coaching centres. And then, there comes a sudden ruling from the government that they have to toil further! Next time, there will be more competition for the current candidates as there will be new candidates too sitting for the exams. Isn’t this an insult to the decades long hard work of the candidates?  

The government is talking about one time relaxation for over aged candidates but the question is— Will there be separate question papers for the TCS and TPS aspirants as the syllabus is changed now? According to news reports the earlier Left government had already completed the recruitment process of around 2000 candidates for Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Tripura Police. However, due to the start of the legislative assembly election process, the distribution of the appointment letters had to be postponed. So, these aspirants who were actually waiting for the appointment letters have to sit again for the exams and the interviews along with new candidates.

Around a month ago, recruitments for around 8500 vacant posts were nullified by the state government. Yet, the government maintained silence about the ongoing TPSC recruitments and the TPSC too didn’t receive any information regarding it. So, it continued with the preparations for the exams only to postpone them due to government’s decision. What has irked more the candidates, is the confusion regarding the fate of the exams as the TPSC says that the scheduled exams and the interviews are postponed until further notice which contradicts the state government’s immediate cancellation order of all the ongoing recruitment process except the ongoing recruitments of the Tripura Judicial Service Grade-III.

The candidates are at sea as they actually don’t know whether the exams are postponed or they are cancelled. Some of the angry job seekers are thinking of knocking the doors of the judiciary against this unethical decision of the state government. Certainly, this decision by the state government is giving rise to resentment among the job seekers who are questioning the seriousness of the government which came to power by riding on tall promises of delivering jobs!

(The writer is a student and freelance writer from Tripura. Follow him on Twitter @SagarneelSinha)