India – RSF Statement in Support of the Ongoing Student Protest in Jharkhand
We hereby share a statement issued by the Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF) on the 7th of August.
We came to know that thousands of government job aspirants in Jharkhand have been engaged in an indefinite sit-in at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium in Ranchi, protesting against irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC). The movement has grown into one of the state’s largest student-led agitations in recent years. Several protesters, including prominent leader Devendra Nath Mahto, have undertaken an indefinite hunger strike. The protesters allege repeated paper leaks, irregularities, delayed recruitments, and a lack of transparency in public employment. Their principal demands include an independent investigation into the alleged irregularities, accountability for those responsible, transparent recruitment, and the timely completion of pending appointments.
The protests are taking place under the Jharkhand government led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and its INDI alliance partners. At the same time, we have recently witnessed nationwide protests against the NEET 2026 scam, centred mainly at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanding the resignation of BJP Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This clearly shows that the recurring crisis of scams surrounding examinations and recruitment stems not merely from administrative failures or from the failures of any particular ruling party, but rather brings to light the deeper structural problems within India’s education system itself. The ongoing Jharkhand protests, and others like them, are proof of the contradiction between an expanding employable population and the country’s precarious economy, which generates too few secure employment opportunities. Paper leaks, delayed recruitments, repeated examination controversies, and the growing privatisation of education are the obvious outcomes of a system in which education and employment are subordinated to capital, specifically foreign capital. That is why replacing one ruling party with another does not, in any way, resolve the conditions that repeatedly produce these crises. Whether it is the Brahminical Hindutva Fascist BJP-RSS or any other reactionary ruling party, none of them serve the interests of people. All of them sustain the economic model tailored to serve imperialist interests and the existing ruling fascist ideology and have thus built an education system designed merely to produce an endless supply of cheap, skilled labour.
As public education and recruitment become increasingly dependent on the private coaching industry, rising educational costs, and prolonged uncertainty in employment, students are forced to bear the financial and psychological burden. Recruitment scams further reinforce this cycle by extending preparation periods and increasing dependence on the private coaching industry. The Jharkhand protests have become part of the broader nationwide movement of students and job aspirants. A lasting solution to the issues underlying these protests requires more than stronger examination security, disciplinary action against individual officials, or the resignation of a few ministers. Unless the current education system is transformed into one that is scientifically oriented, universally accessible, and organised around social needs, the root causes of these recurring scams will not be addressed.
At this point, only the united militant mass struggle of all anti-fascist, progressive, and democratic forces can lead the ongoing student movement across the country in the correct political direction. We, the Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF), stand in solidarity with the protesters and call upon those engaged in the hunger strike not to exhaust their strength by continuing the hunger strike, but instead to join the broader militant movement of students across the country for mass scientific education free from corruption.
