Candidates celebrate Diwali amidst protest against teacher recruitment

Candidates sitting on a continuous hunger strike at Eco Garden in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, in protest against reservation discrepancies in the recruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers, celebrated this year's Diwali festival at the protest site, away from their families. The candidates, who are protesting for justice, marked the festival by lighting lamps and creating rangolis at the site.

Tufan Singh, who is leading the movement of the applicants, stated according to Amar Ujala's report that candidates have been on a continuous strike for the last 69 days regarding the reservation discrepancies in the 68,500 teacher recruitments. During this period, candidates have made numerous representations before the state government's cabinet ministers, departmental ministers, and concerned officials to present their demands, but no satisfactory result has emerged yet.

Tufan Singh further stated that the state's Backward Classes Commission, in its order, has directed to improve the results by providing the benefit of the reservation category to the OBC class and to complete the appointment process. Despite this, candidates have not received justice so far. Expressing grief, he said that Diwali is a festival of happiness to be celebrated with family, but candidates waiting for justice are forced to celebrate their festival at the protest site. This movement will continue until the reservation discrepancy is resolved and candidates receive justice and appointments.

Protesting candidate Ashutosh Verma stated that despite the situation regarding reservation discrepancies in departmental posts being clear, no solution has been brought forward so far. He requested the government to take an immediate decision on the candidates' demands. Female candidate Ranjana Jaiswal also expressed her pain, saying that women have also been forced to sit on strike away from their families. The government should have provided justice in this matter by now.

During this strike, several candidates including Naveen Chaudhary, Aarti Patel, Manoj Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Harjit, Ghanshyam, Anurag Pal, Omkar Vishwakarma, Nasim, Tariq, Amit, Utkarsh Patel, Ghanshyam, and Ansh were present.

Controversies have been ongoing for a long time in Uttar Pradesh regarding the teacher recruitment process and reservation rules, in which candidates have alleged errors in the calculation and allocation of reservations.