Protesters outside the CGO complex, Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
AS THE protest at the Staff Selection Committee (SSC) reached its fifth day on Saturday, students from across the country garnered support from different political parties, including the AAP and the BJP. The protesting students met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among other leaders on Saturday.
The students are demanding that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry be held into the alleged leak of the examination paper for the Combined Graduate Level Examination (SSC CGL Tier II Exam 2018) held on February 21. The protesters have been sitting outside the CGO complex with video evidence purportedly showing “mass cheating”.
Citing “humanitarian grounds”, BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari Saturday met the students and assured the protesters that the issue will be taken up with the minister concerned. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal maintained that the central government should immediately look into the matter.
“Thousands of students are demanding a CBI inquiry into the SSC paper leak scam. The issue concerns the future of a large number of students. The central government should immediately look into the issue and conduct a CBI inquiry,” said Kejriwal.
A delegation of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leaders, meanwhile, met SSC chairman Ashim Khurana and put forward their demands.
In an official statement, ABVP said, “We have demanded a conclusive CBI inquiry to expose the nexus, and to find the culprits so that this does not happen again.”
On Thursday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had written a letter to Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pensions) requesting him to look into the issue.
“The number one requests of the candidates is, in fact, a detailed probe into the circumstances surrounding the examination. However, it appears that SSC is only willing to form a SIT probe, a cause of further anguish for these students, since it is likely that the members of the probe will be current employees of the SSC themselves, thereby opening the door for a potentially biased investigation,” Tharoor had said in the letter.
However, with no words from the authorities yet, students plan to continue their protest and alleged that the toilet facility at the CGO complex has been blocked for them.
A protester, Aakash Yadav, said, “They have closed the toilets and switched off the street lights. I think this is pressure tactic so that we get violent. But we have decided to protest silently till our demands are fulfilled.”
Raising the issue, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal, meanwhile, asked the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to install temporary toilets in the area.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro Saturday closed the JLN Stadium station in the wake of the protest, officials said. It was closed around 9am on the advise of Delhi Police, a senior Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official said. “The station will remain closed till further directions,” he said.
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