After Jharkhand, student protest rages in Bihar: Agitators clash with police during Raj Bhavan march

Students protesting against the 70th Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination broke through police barricades on Tuesday while marching from Gandhi Maidan toward Raj Bhavan in Patna. The agitation stems from growing grievances over recruitment exam delays, paper leaks, and police crackdowns.

The protesters are demanding cancellation of the examination over alleged irregularities.

A major trigger for current protests is the delayed advertisement for the fourth phase of the Bihar Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-4). Candidates are demanding that the BPSC release the official notification for over 32,000 teacher posts without further delay. Aspirants are also opposing potential changes to the exam format (such as adding a Prelims-Mains two-stage pattern), fearing it will stall hiring even longer.

The protesters attempted to proceed towards the restricted area despite police barricading the route. Police used water cannons to disperse the agitators.

DSP Kamakhya Narayan Singh said that the police would stop the protesters if they attempted to move ahead, while expressing hope that the students would agree following the dialogue with senior officials.

Heavy police deployment was witnessed across major intersections along the march route to maintain law and order and keep traffic moving.

"We have put up barricades, and senior officers have also arrived here. A large number of personnel have been deployed, and talks with the students are also underway. The talks are positive. I hope many students have understood that several of their demands have been accepted, so the scale of the protest should be much smaller," Kamakhya told ANI.

What are the students' demands?

Speaking at the protest site, Congress leader Sushil Kumar said the protesters were seeking changes in the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE) 4.0 and action on issues related to the BPSC, Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC), and Sub-Inspector recruitment.

Candidates preparing for the 70th BPSC civil services exam and the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) exams are protesting over inconsistencies in marking systems, paper leaks, and frequent changes to examination patterns. Research scholars have also raised concerns over new assistant professor recruitment rules and unequal weightage given to English-medium candidates relative to Hindi-medium aspirants.

"There are numerous other issues as well, regarding the BPSC, BSSC, Sub-Inspector recruitment. The government has offered no assurances on any of these points. We have urged the Chief Minister to hold a dialogue; he should invite our delegation for talks. We have been on a hunger strike for nine days, yet no one is willing to listen to us. Just imagine, had the government engaged in dialogue, this situation would not have arisen," Kumar told ANI.

Meanwhile, Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav wrote a letter to Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, urging the government to initiate dialogue with protesting BPSC candidates and resolve the crisis without delay.

The agitation has drawn support from Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as well as 14 student and youth organisations, including the Revolutionary Youth Association, AISF, and Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Morcha.