UP: Swift justice to general category candidates surprises SC/ST/OBC candidates, pushed to Hunger strike

Lucknow: When the UP government released the notification of the vacancies of Police Constable, the candidates of the general category were left disappointed as they were not given the age relaxation and their age limit was 18-22 years. However, it took only a twitter trend and some political manoeuvring to get them their issue redressed as they were granted the age relaxation by three years and the maximum age in their category was extended to 25 years from 22 years.

UP teacher recruitment applicants who have been protesting at the Kanshiram Eco Garden since the last 562 days are wondering what makes them different from these “general” category candidates who were given swift justice, but they find it difficult to air their grievances despite weathering extreme heat, extreme cold, rains etc. at the Kanshiram Eco Garden. The students met education minister several times and were assured of justice, they have also attempted to meet the chief minister but they have not been successful in doing so. The Mooknayak visited the Kanshiram eco garden in Lucknow to assess the condition under which the candidates are protesting and found that the students are living under open sky amidst shivering cold with only a blanket or a bed sheet to cover themselves.

Kuldeep a candidate from Etawah who is also camping at the protest site says “even the government has accepted the fact that there has been a discrepancy in the reservation but still we are being denied our rights, whereas the general category students get their grievance heard via tweet only, had we been general category students, we would have got the jobs.

Avineet, a candidate from Azamgarh says that the general category students were given age relaxation after twitter trend and one of upper caste MLAs met the chief minister, but when we try to meet the Chief Minister we are beaten with lathis.

Amrendra Singh patel, a candidate who has also led the protests says that Shalabh Mani Tripathi, an MLA from the upper-caste met chief minister and appealed him to grant age relaxation and the Chief Minister duly conceded, we have no grouse with that it was a genuine issues, but here our brother sisters are dying in cold, yet there is no response from the leaders from our community but adds “ we will still fight for our rights come what may, heat or cold or rain till we get our appointment letter.

The candidates, who have been agitating in Eco Garden for 562 days have been demanding appointments based on the selection list released on January 5, 2022. They claim that despite the Chief Minister's instructions, appointments for the 6,800 reserved category candidates have not been made.

The students attempted to ghereo the Vidhan Sabha Bhawan on 29th of November but were severely beaten by the police and some of the candidates had to be rushed to the hospital and are still receiving treatment.

Meanwhile some of the students have resorted to hunger strike to draw attention of the government.

As the students at the Kanshiram Eco Garden continue to demonstrate against the alleged discrepancy in the reservation criteria, we can hope that 2024, which happens to be an election year brings some good news for these candidates from the marginal communities.