Opposition slams BJP for using force against students protesting against UPPSC

As thousands of students continued their protest demanding single shift exams for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) examinations and sat on a 'dharna' outside the Commission's office in Prayagraj, the opposition parties slammed the BJP government for using force against the students to disperse them.

Police had made lathi charge on the protesting students on Monday after they tried to break the police cordon and march toward the Commission.

The students sat on the dharna throughout the night and refused to leave the site despite repeated pleadings by the authorities. Several rounds of talks between the authorities and the protesting students failed to yield any solution.

The students, who carried placards and posters containing slogans like ''na batenge, na hatenge'' (we will neither be divided nor leave the site), apparently influenced by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath's remarks ''batenge to katenge'' (Hindus will be slaughtered if they are divided).

The UPPSC had a few days back declared that the PCS (Pre) examination 2024 would be held on December seven and eight in two shifts. It had also announced that the examination for Review Officer/Assistant Review Officer (Pre) 2023 would be held on December 22 and 23 in two shifts.

The protesting students have demanded that both the examinations be held in one day and in one shift. ''One Day, One shift is our demand and we will not leave until our demand is met,'' said a protesting student.

The UPPSC refused to accept the demands. It said that it was not possible to hold the examinations on a single day and in one shift as the number of students appearing in the examinations was too huge. 

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday decried lathi charge on the students and said that giving jobs was not on the agenda of the BJP government. ''Only election is on the agenda of the BJP,'' Akhilesh said in a post on social media.

BSP supremo Mayawati said that the state government should resolve the situation by talking to the students. 

The protest by the students has come barely a few days before the by-polls on nine assembly seats in the state and it has given an issue to the opposition parties to attack the BJP.