The ongoing protest by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) aspirants in Patna took a fresh turn last night after police detained educator and YouTuber Faizal Khan, after he joined the protesting students.
The protesting students are demanding withdrawal of "changes" to the rules for the 70th BPSC Preliminary Examination to be held on December 13. They are demanding that the exams be held in 'One Shift and One Paper' to avoid the normalisation process.
The BPSC, however, denied making any changes to the examination process.
The police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to disperse the protesting aspirants who had gathered near the BPSC office on Bailey Road around noon, in a bid to march towards the office. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajeev Mishra said the protesters had organised a sit-in, which was disrupting the traffic and they refused to leave even after repeated requests.
Who is Faizal Khan, also known as 'Khan Sir'?
Educator and YouTuber Faizal Khan, also known as 'Khan Sir', takes coaching classes for students preparing for different competitive exams in the country. He has a popular YouTube channel named Khan GS Research Centre, where he provides free classes for poor students.
The YouTube channel, which has close to 400 videos on subjects ranging from current affairs to politics and mathematics, has close to 24 million subscribers. Khan, who is an alumnus of Allahabad University, has a coaching centre, too, in Chak Musallahpur, Patna.
Khan, who was released from Patna's Gardanibagh police station later at night, told the media that it is unfortunate that the students have to agitate with just a week left for the examination.
“We want the president (of BPSC) to say that there will be no normalisation the examinations will be held in one shift and one paper will be given to all the students. We will not move from here until normalisation is assured to be removed,” he said.
He asserted that the protesters have nothing to do with politics. "We believe in the Constitution. That's why we are not protesting on the streets. We reached the Dharna-sthal (protesting site) to protest constitutionally. We will make sure that the normalisation (process) is cancelled. We don't have any expectations from BPSC. We have hopes from the government. We have nothing to do with politics. We will stand with those who will listen to our demands," he added.
