Even as the nation is still smarting under the chaotic thought-process triggered by the Cockroach agitation, it is almost missing the details of another similar movement now underway at Jharkhand’s capital city of Ranchi. There, braving incessant heavy rains, literally countless thousands of young people are engaged in a protest against the totally botched up process of an examination that directly admitted aspirants to jobs under the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) -- where another kind of ‘paper-leak’ took place (when answer sheets were ‘leaked’ creating serious doubts about the integrity of the examination process). The Ranchi agitation includes sit-in and indefinite fast of thousands of young people. But, during this agitation, there are no insolent slogans meant to abuse anybody. Instead, the slogans include ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

 

As the nation is beginning to know the details of the Ranchi agitation, it will realise how different it is from the Cockroach agitation in New Delhi and elsewhere in the country. The Cockroach protesters indulged in shockingly abusive language, shouted anti-India slogans, targeted Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi (and even his late mother) personally. And having done all that and after having been pardoned by the Prime Minister himself, the Cockroach members are now expressing their apologies -- which actually carry little meaning. In Ranchi, whatever is happening is in sharp contrast of the Cockroach agitation. There, at the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, in the absence of the Government’s permission to erect pandals, the protesters are sitting on the muddy ground with their umbrellas and make-shift covers which they hold aloft in their hands. There is no one providing them food -- which came in shocking abundance at the Cockroach agitation after first few days.

 

Despite the protesters are firm that the steps the Jharkhand Government has taken are not enough and that more stringent action needs to be taken. True, the Chairman of Jharkhand Public Service Commission -- Mr. L. Khiangte -- has resigned. Yet, the protesters are asking for a more robust system rather than cosmetic responses by the State Government. Interestingly, Jharkhand Chief Minister Mr. Hemant Soren is also Education Minister and is being held responsible for botching up the system. Yet, the Ranchi protesters have not allowed their agitation to veer off into a wrong direction. They have not allowed any abusiveness in their ranks, nor have they shown any political inclination of whatever nature. They also are young -- members of Gen Z(ee), so to say. They also are harassed by the failure of a system. They also are asking for a more stringent action.

 

Yet, the overall tone and tenor of the Ranchi agitation is fully democratic and the protesters seem to have no intention of taking the political route -- which the Cockroach agitation did. In due time, the nation will start noticing this difference -- between Ranchi and New Delhi agitations. In due time, the common Indian people will realise what it means to run a purely apolitical agitation. In due time, it will realise the difference bewteen the mocking of the idea of India that happened at Jantar Mantar, and how the Ranchi agitators demonstrate within the legal and spiritual framework of the Constitution. Eventually, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may support the Ranchi stir, as has been done by Assam Chief Minister Mr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. Despite that, the Ranchi stir will never become a stooge of this or that party. The nation will never miss this difference. In due time, it will realise that the Cockroach agitation had no respect for the nation, for the Constitution, for the Government -- and that it was aimed only at anarchy. For, it was at Jantar Mantar that slogans were raised and speeches were given about a possible Nepal-type uprising of young people in India. At Ranchi, each slogan was aimed at saluting the motherland.