NEW DELHI, May 18: Teaching job aspirants, mostly hailing from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Caste (SC) categories, staged a protest in Lucknow on Monday outside Basic Education Minister Sandeep Singh’s residence, by prostrating and crawling on the ground in the scorching heat, demanding their appointment.
The aspirants alleged that they are completely distressed due to delay in court cases and if the government did not listen to them, they will be forced to take extreme step. The aspirants alleged that reservation rules were ignored while preparing the select list, thereby reducing the seats for eligible candidates from OBC/SC category. Multiple videos of the unusual protest went viral.
“After the controversy, the government admitted its mistake and released a new list of 6,800, but the Allahabad High Court cancelled it and ordered a fresh list of 69,000. The case is now before the Supreme Court,” said Vishwajeet Prajapati, an aspirant from Barabanki.
The protesting candidates allege that the State government was not representing them strongly in the Supreme Court through a panel of senior lawyers. “Youths have been suffering the consequences of administrative shortcomings for the past six years. We demand justice, the government failed us,” added Mr Prajapati.
Opposition parties hit out at the government over the protest as videos went viral with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav saying limits of injustice have been crossed. “The arrogance of the BJP people, who killed the right to reservation given by the Constitution, would be very happy today that people from deprived, exploited social groups for centuries are still bowing down and pleading before their dominance, but the BJP and their allies, intoxicated with the pride of their dominance, should also remember that when the insistence is defeated, then man crosses the limits,” wrote Mr Yadav, sharing one such video of crawling.
“We are deeply concerned by the distress expressed by these young aspirants. Their peaceful yet poignant protest reflects not just frustration, but a loss of faith in a system that should support them. The government must respond with urgency, empathy, and transparency. These are our youth seeking dignity through employment, not confrontation.
“We appeal to the authorities to engage in a meaningful dialogue, address their grievances fairly, and ensure that merit and justice prevail. At the same time, we urge the aspirants to remain calm as your voice matters, and it must be heard without harm to yourselves,” said SP spokesperson Naseer Salim.
The Congress alleged that when young people were forced to crawl on their bellies in front of the Education Minister’s house demanding recruitment, it shows system failed them. “The makers of the future are crawling on the streets. The BJP government, which makes hollow claims of development is exposed today on the streets of Lucknow in its most shameful and terrifying way.
“When young people are forced to crawl on their bellies in front of the Education Minister’s house demanding the recruitment of 70,000 teachers, then understand that democracy is in intensive care. What could be more shameful for the BJP than such pictures, the fact is OBCs, SCs, women and common people are never the priority of this government,” said senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Anil Yadav.
Their demonstrations and protests is going on since June, 2020, when the recruitment results were announced. Candidates questioned the discrepancies in reservation criteria. “The reserved category candidates who were entitled to selection in the unreserved category due to higher merit were also included in reserved categories, while most unreserved seats went to general category candidates. The National Commission for Backward Classes also validated discrepancies in the reservation criteria adopted and asked the U.P. government to redress grievances,” a spokesman for the agitators said.
Some candidates went to the High Court, questioning the additional list released in January 2022. The court cancelled the list in March 2023, directing the Basic Education department to prepare a revised list of all seats while disposing of as many as 117 writ petitions, all related to discrepancies in the merit list and examination pattern.
“There was no clarity on the score and details of the reserved category candidates, who appeared in the ATRE 2019,” the High Court observed. It added, “There has been no endeavour from the State authorities, who are custodians of the records of the ATRE 2019 and would have assisted this court in providing the said records.” Some petitioners challenged the single bench judgement, in the division bench of the Court, leading to further delay in the revised list.
“The matter is in the High Court, we are waiting for the judgement of the court,” said Sandeep Singh, Minister Basic Education department, U.P. The State government, on the floor of the U.P. legislative council, had agreed that some discrepancies had occurred in the recruitment process.
(Manas Dasgupta)