5 Questions: BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi

Today, during Zero Hour, you said there should not be two exams for recruitment in the Group D category in Railways. Why?

When in 2019, the examination was announced for Group D, the category had the highest numbers of vacancies, at that time they had said there would be only one exam. Somewhere it was mentioned they may consider holding two exams, but it was in vague terms. And all of a sudden on January 24, when the NTPC controversy and agitation was on… a circular was issued that there will be two exams. There was a huge reaction. Because the youngsters were preparing for only one exam…

But how else do you screen 1 crore candidates?

My point is if you had to hold two exams, then you should have announced it earlier…

In the case of NTPC, the exam rules were notified beforehand

Regarding NTPC, there was no irregularity in the results… They had said they would announce results for 20 times the number of vacancies… The discrepancy was that there were five different groups. And there were instances of one person qualifying in three groups. So, the students were saying that there should be one student, one result so that more students get a chance to appear for the exam. I support that.

What about the violence?

The students have been preparing for four years… The results of NTPC came on January 18. And students took to social media. There were more than 90 lakh tweets and retweets…and the railway Group D announcement fueled the fire.

Are you happy with steps Railways has taken to address the issue?

Yes. I have spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw… The demands of the students are not unreasonable. I hope a solution will emerge.