BPSC paper leak worst act Prashant Kishor arrested from Gandhi Maidan, 6 Jan.

BPSC paper leak Jan Suraaj party chief Prashant Kishor, who was sitting on an indefinite hunger strike at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, was arrested by Bihar Police early Monday morning, the party said.

A poll strategist-turned political leader, Kishor has been on a fast-unto-death since January 2 at Gandhi Maidan seeking cancellation of the integrated 70th combined (preliminary) competitive test conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on December 13, due to  an alleged a paper leak.

Kishor was ‘forcibly’ removed from Gandhi Maidan at 4 am and taken to AIIMS, Patna in an ambulance by the police, the party said. “He was forcibly removed from the hunger strike site at 4 am. He has declined to take treatment and pledged to continue his hunger strike,” the Jan Suraaj team said in a message on its WhatsApp channel.

A video shared by the news agency ANI showed senior officials of Patna police ‘removing’ Kishor from the hunger strike site amid fierce opposition.

“Despite repeated requests by the officials concerned, they did not leave the place. They had also been served notice by the district administration to shift their dharna to Gardani Bagh, the dedicated place for holding protests, in the state capital, “Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh told the news agency PTI.

An FIR was also also filed earlier against Kishor and his supporters by the district administration. The administration deemed the protest at the site ‘illegal.’ Kishor and others have been been accused of “unauthorisedly” gathering people, instigating them and creating a law and order problem.

Sitting under the icstatue of Mahatma Gandhi at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan with scores of students, Kishor has been on a fast-unto-death since Thursday. Kishor is the first politician allowed to sit on dharna at the famous ground, instead of the designated protest site of Gardani Bagh.

Why is Prashant Kishor on hunger strike?

Singh, the Patna DM  said that, in accordance with a Patna High Court order, “no dharna can be allowed at a spot other than the designated place in Gardani Bagh.'”

Kishor began the indefinite hunger strike demanding the cancellation of the BPSC examination due to an alleged paper leak. He started the hunger strike on January 2 after joining BPSC aspirants in their protest at Gandhi Maidan and criticised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for failing to meet with the students.

“This is against the egoistic government (of Bihar) whose leader CM Nitish Kumar did not consider meeting the students even when the students had agreed to withdraw the movement if the CM said that the exams couldn’t be held… The students were beaten up by the authorities… There is only one way for people like us, Hence I am doing an indefinite hunger strike,” he had said on Thursday.

Jan Suraaj, became a political party in October this year and is expected to contest in all seats of Bihar in the next year’s assembly election.

The BPSC Exam row

Nearly five lakh candidates had appeared at more than 900 centres across the state for the Combined Competitive Exams. Controversy arose after hundreds of candidates boycotted an exam centre in Patna, alleging a ‘paper leak’.

The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has denied the allegation and deemed it a “conspiracy” to get the exams cancelled—despite re-examination being ordered for more than 10,000 candidates, who had been assigned the Bapu Pariksha Parisar at the centre of the controversy.

The protesters have sought a cancellation of the entire examination and argue that retests for a small group of candidates will create an unfair advantage.