Jharkhand Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey says the govt is engaging with student protestors, calling BJP's allegations an 'illusion'. She urges students to give the govt time and clarifies her remarks about the student delegation.
Jharkhand Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey on Friday emphasised that the state government is actively engaging with student representatives and taking forward their agreed-upon demands, while dismissing allegations levelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a "mere illusion".
Engaging with Students, Dismissing BJP's 'Illusion'
Speaking to ANI, the Jharkhand Minister said the government is in contact with students participating in the ongoing agitation and that the students should give the state government adequate time to act on the agreed demands and expressed hope that the ongoing hunger strike would end. "The BJP may have the illusion that they have hijacked this protest, but it is merely their illusion because even today the students are vigilant. There is certainly an attempt being made to politically influence some people. But with the students we are in touch with, we are taking their demands to the government and want their hunger strike to end. The students should give the government time to work on those demands on which an agreement has already been reached with the government," she said.
Clarification on Delegation Remarks
She strongly refuted statements issued by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Forum, accusing critics and social media platforms of distorting her remarks regarding student delegations. Addressing the media, she said, "Yesterday, a statement was issued regarding us by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Forum. I believe that Ravindra Paswan has not properly understood the statement we gave. We have also seen on social media that our statement is being distorted and misrepresented. On the 12th, when we went to the Sadar Hospital to meet the ailing fasters there, we presented to the media what they told us in our conversation there. I am reiterating once again that in the statement I gave to the media on the 12th, it was clear that not a single faster was included in the delegation of students and girl students who went to meet the government delegation."
Tirkey further clarified that her original statement was intended to point out that students who were on hunger strike were not included in the delegation that met the government. She said their participation could have provided an opportunity for direct dialogue with the fasting students and allowed the government to address their health concerns. "Our concern is precisely this: that if the students sitting on fast had been part of that delegation, the government would have at least engaged in talks with them and broken their fast, improving their health. But they were not included in the delegation. At the very least, the government would have had the opportunity to hold talks with the students sitting on fast. This statement has been presented in such a way that we said 'there were no students in the delegation.' I refute this," she said.
Jharkhand Govt Slams MMDR Amendment Bill
Tirkey also criticised the BJP over the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Amendment Bill, claiming that it will cause a loss of Rs 10,000 crore to the state and stall vital development schemes. "BJP has no right to speak on Jharkhand. If they are well-wishers of Jharkhand, they would not have allowed the MMDR bill in the first place. 10 thousand crore loss will be incurred on Jharkhand, and many schemes of Jharkhand will be stalled. BJP doesn't want to solve this," she said. The ongoing agitation has largely centred on demands raised by aspirants of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC). Protesters have been demanding cancellation of the JSSC-Combined Graduate Level (CGL) examination, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities and reforms in the recruitment process.
Furthermore, Tirkey defended Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's decision to write to the top national leadership and stated that the state government is fully prepared to take the fight from the assembly to the streets, maintaining that the doors for dialogue remain open. "The Chief Minister has done the right thing by writing letters to the President, Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi, and we are ready to fight over this from the assembly to the streets. We have always been battling the centre for royalty. The bill is against the order of the Supreme Court passed in 2024. This bill seeks to nullify the order of the Supreme Court, but we are ready to fight over it," he said.
JMM MP Adds to Criticism
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP Vijay Kumar Hansdak echoed similar sentiments, saying that the amendment will cause massive losses to mineral-rich states. Hansdak accused the central government of bypassing traditional state jurisdiction over mining and trampling on laws over the past decade to hand control entirely over to big capitalists. "The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill and the Cooperative Amendment Act will be harmful to the state. If a state is mineral-rich, it suffers a huge loss... Mining has always been a state subject. In the last 12 years, many laws have been trampled to pave the way for big capitalists, resulting in harm to the state. Today, a law has been passed that ends the state's stake. Their priority is to hand everything over to the capitalists," he said.
Earlier, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 was cleared by the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Monsoon Session. Earlier, the bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on Monday. It will become law after receiving the President's assent. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 [MMDR Amendment Bill], proposed a series of changes to the existing mining framework, which also includes allowing leaseholders to add multiple minerals to an existing mining lease, expanding the scope of mineral exploration funding and removing the cap on the sale of minerals from captive mines. (ANI)
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