Those who talk of 'One Nation, One Election' cannot manage exams on single day: Akhilesh

PRAYAGRAJ: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for its handling of the protest by UPPSC exam aspirants in Prayagraj and failure to properly organise the exams.

The protest by aspirants against the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission's (UPPSC) decision to conduct the Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer (RO-ARO) and Provincial Civil Service (PCS) preliminary examinations on different dates entered its fourth day on Thursday. They have been holding the protest outside the Commission headquarters in Prayagraj.

Later on Thursday, the UPPSC postponed the RO-ARO exam and announced that it would hold the PCS exam in the old pattern in a single day. The commission also announced that it would form a committee on RO-ARO exam to ensure its transparency and fairness.

Referring to the protest, Yadav said, "Those who talk about 'One Nation, One Election' cannot even manage exams for students on a single day."

Yadav, who expressed solidarity with the protesters but refrained from joining the protest to avoid accusations of politicisation, attacked the BJP government for its inability to ensure smooth conduct of competitive exams in the state.

"This is the same government that promotes 'One Nation, One Election' but, in Uttar Pradesh, they cannot even manage to conduct exams for our youngsters," he said.

The UPPSC announced on November 5 that the RO-ARO preliminary examination would be held in three shifts on December 22 and 23. The PCS preliminary examination will be held in two shifts on December 7 and 8. The decision to hold the exams on separate dates drew widespread criticism while the aspirants claimed that it caused unnecessary confusion and hardship.

Yadav, who was addressing an election rally in Phulpur, said thousands of students were protesting against the UPPSC's decision.

The Kannauj MP also cited exam paper leaks, frequent postponements and cancellations and accused the state's BJP government of ruining the future of youngsters.

Later, in a post on X, he said, "If the arrogant BJP government thinks that, by removing the protesting aspirants from the UPPSC office in Allahabad, it will put an end to the democratic movement of the youth for their rights, then it is its 'great mistake'."

"Movements are fought with the mind, not the body, and the world has so far not developed a power that can take the mind into custody. If we join, we will win!" he further said in Hindi.

In another post, he said, "If the BJP understands only the mathematics of elections, then it should know that if other competitive exam aspirants such as PCS/RO/ARO/lower subordinate and their family members are included, then this number is about one crore. If this 'great number' is divided by about 400 assembly seats, then the BJP will lose about 25,000 votes in every assembly seat, meaning that the BJP will be reduced to double digits."

The Samajwadi Party chief also expressed hope that by understanding the election mathematics, the "heartless" BJP government would stop the atrocities and fulfil the democratic legitimate demand of the protesting aspirants today itself.

The BJP has developed a habit. Fearing public anger, it is finally forced to accept things but only when all its violent methods fail and its negative politics against jobs fails completely, Yadav claimed.

"The BJP is about to be finished forever. Candidates of today say, 'we don't want BJP!'," he further said.