BPSC agitation and Prashant Kishor factor: Politics, polls and the paper leaks

Mohammad Sajjad

Disenchantment with the ruling coalition, therefore, has been on the rise. It is in this that the row over the Bihar Public Service Commission exam, the only hope for the educated Bihari youth, came to the fore.

BPSC test row

Since December 6, 2024, students appearing for the state civil services recruitment test have been asking for a single-shift test. Multiple-shift tests require a normalisation of scores because of the varying difficulty levels of the tests for the same posts. After a police lathi charge followed by an assurance from the BPSC, the preliminary test was held on December 13 at 912 centres across the state. At a centre in Patna, there was an allegation of delayed distribution of question papers — an invigilator reportedly had a cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital. In the midst of the agitation, the DM slapped a protesting aspirants. The invigilator died. A re-test for that particular centre was announced.

By then, allegations of delay in the distribution of question papers came from at least 30 centres. The aspirants sought re-examination. One also reportedly died by suicide during the agitation.

On December 25, Prashant Kishor, an election manager-turned-politician, joined the students’ agitation with his newly-founded Jan Suraaj Party. He started a fast unto death, was detained, hospitalised and released subsequently. After his release, Kishor promised to continue his fast. The BPSC has maintained that it is an autonomous body that makes its decisions based on facts, not allegations and protests. It has sent a legal notice to Kishor asking him to produce legal evidence for his claims.

Desperate politicians, unemployed youths

Desperate, unemployed youth and eager politicians are a volatile cocktail.

Notably, the JD (U)-RJD government had performed well in terms of employing youth, especially in school teacher recruitment through the BPSC. Subsequently, Nitish Kumar took a turn, aligned with the BJP and and pushed the RJD it into the Opposition.

Amit Shah’s statement that the decision on the Bihar CM may well signal the BJP’s intention to cut the JD (U) to size. State-level BJP leaders have indeed stood by Nitish Kumar. However, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s statement that “he [Nitish] is always welcome” was considered an open invitation to the CM to again join the INDIA bloc.

Notably, PK has been appealing to unemployed Muslim youths besides several other marginalised social classes and castes, who are believed to be non-BJP voters in Bihar. Many Muslim youths (particularly the graduates of AMU, JMI, TISS, MANUU-Hyderabad, etc.), from each district of Bihar are working for PK.

In Bihar, some better-known coaching teachers are also the target of competing political groups. They too stand divided on political lines.

Beyond its political implications, the BPSC incident is also symptomatic of the degeneration in the public education system across the country. Money-making through paper leaks has assumed a menacing proportions. Institutions like the National Testing Agency (NTA) have faced questions in this regard in recent times. Bihar has notorious in paper-leaks for quite some time, with politicians and criminals also allegedly involved.

Thus, this latest friction between the unemployed youth and the state is a function not only of the fractured polity and tattered economy of Bihar but also of the rest of the country. Bihari youths and peasants are living in uncertainty. The Bihari diaspora is often indifferent.

The writer teaches Modern and Contemporary History, at the Aligarh Muslim University (India); He is author of Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours (Routledge).