Yogi Government detains Youth for Raising Voice against Corruption

THE Uttar Pradesh police detained Nyay Morcha convener and RYA State Secretary Sunil Maurya along with many youth in the RYA office at Allahabad who were on their way on 10 June 2020 to submit a memorandum demanding a CBI enquiry into the scam in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers, cancellation and re-holding of the exam.

It is worth noting that there are allegations of large scale manipulations in the Assistant Teachers Entrance Exam held in January 2019 under the Yogi government. Two cases related to the exam are also under way at the Supreme Court and the High Court. ‘Shiksha Mitra’s have appealed in the Supreme Court against the verdict in favor of the government given by the High Court in the case related to the government’s changing the cut-off after the exam had been conducted. Another case relating to the controversial questions (where there could be more than one correct answer) asked in the exam paper is under way in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. The High Court Lucknow Bench has stayed the entire recruitment, while the Supreme Court has stayed recruitment in 37000 of the 69000 posts.

RYA Convener Sunil Maurya said that students who appeared for the 69000 Teachers Recruitment Exam want that those involved in rampant corruption should be taught a lesson and paper leaks should not be allowed in any future entrance exam. But the government is determined to unleash repression on the students instead of paying heed to their demands, and is trying to crush the students’ democratic voice. He said that even before the protest started, the Karnalganj Kotwali CO came and threatened them that if they went out they would be sent to jail under the Epidemic Act; police would be deployed and they would not be allowed to go out. After that, many police personnel came there and remained there until they were satisfied that the program could not be conducted. Later, the administration came to the office and took the memorandum.

RYA activists held dharna at the Tulsisagar Lanka District office in Ghazipur and the Devmati Modern School in Jamaniya. Addressing the dharna at the Ghazipur office, State Executive member Manoj Kushwaha said that the entire recruitment process in the 69000 Teachers Recruitment Exam has exposed the Yogi government’s false claims of a corruption-free Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi government is shying away from answering the question: what happened to the Viral Answer-Sheet probe report?

Addressing the dharna at Jamaniya, Amarjeet Maurya said that more than 12 crore migrant youth in the country have become unemployed due to the pandemic and the Lockdown. A large number of youth have lost their jobs because of the shutting down of the Atlas Cycle factory. Thousands of workers in Karnataka are protesting because garment companies have shut down. He said that all unemployed persons including migrant workers should be given dignified jobs and Rs 10000 per month as subsistence allowance.

Responding to the call given by the Nyay Morcha, protests were also organised in Devariya, Rae Bareli and other Districts.

A day earlier on 9 June AISA organized a protest at their Allahabad office along with candidates who are victims of the exam scam. AISA State President Shailesh Paswan said that the answer key to the exam held on 6 January 2019 went viral on social media even before the exam took place. At that time, AISA had demanded cancellation of the exam, after which the STF arrested some cheaters. Despite this, the recruitment process continued and now even after the violation of reservation rules and the hand of BJP leaders in the scam have come to the fore, the Yogi government has declared the results even as the Lockdown was in place. The humungous corruption was sought to be hushed up by the hurried counseling of candidates within 3 days. If a probe is conducted, it will be found that prominent Ministers are involved in the scam. Candidates from the same class have been made to fight against each other in the name of MRC and under this guise seats were sold to relatives of BJP leaders or to wealthy people. During the protest, candidates who were victims of the scam said that if the Yogi government did not dismiss the Secretary of the Exam Regulatory Authority, students would be forced to launch a massive agitation even in the midst of the Lockdown.