Nine months ago, in April 2022, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot made an emphatic assertion that no CM, not even the Prime Minister, had the right to demolish the house of an accused person till the charge against them was proved. This was in the wake of such demolitions in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. On Monday, Rajasthan joined that list, when the Jaipur Development Authority demolished a coaching institute run by Suresh Dhaka, Bhupendra Saran and other accused in the case of leak of the paper for the second grade teacher recruitment exam. What has changed between April 2022 and now are a string of recruitment exam paper leaks in Rajasthan, with the BJP accusing the Gehlot government of being ineffective in checking them, and the countdown beginning for the Assembly elections. The first such leak was in September 2021. More than 25 lakh had applied at the time for the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET), one of the most popular government recruitment tests in the state. Before REET 2021, the question paper for the sub-inspector recruitment exam had leaked. So, as a precaution against cheating at REET, the Rajasthan government took the contested step of shutting down Internet services. #Watch | Question paper leak case: Early on Monday morning, the enforcement wing of the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) sent its teams to Gopalpura bypass road in Jaipur to demolish the Adhigham coaching centre. pic.twitter.com/3iN8OKN95b — The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) January 9, 2023 However, the exam still had to be cancelled after the police found that the question paper for the REET Level II Exam had leaked, right from the office of the Education Department, two days before the exam. The Congress first denied there was a leak, but after this was proved wrong, the Gehlot government tried to contain the damage by acting against just the officials responsible for conducting the exams and safeguarding the paper. Finally, as the row snowballed, it was forced to cancel the REET Level II exam, and announce that fresh exams would be held in the coming months. The BJP held massive protests over the ruling party’s “flip flops”, as did a federation of unemployed youths, bringing into question Gehlot's rhetoric of “good governance”. The Rajasthan Unemployed youth federation puts the number of young looking for jobs in the state alone at around 25-30 lakh, giving an idea of the formidable vote bank the age bracket adds up to. With Kota arguably the country's biggest coaching hub, Rajasthan has a huge stake in these exams, while Covid setbacks have further fuelled the demand for government jobs. In a bid to pacify the youth, in March last year, the Rajasthan government passed the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2022, with provisions for punishment for offences such as the use of unfair means, question paper leaks and cheating in public recruitment examinations. However, the leaks did not stop. In May 2022, the constable recruitment paper leaked. Then, in December 2022, the Udaipur police found that the paper for the second grade teacher recruitment question had leaked, forcing yet another cancellation. To add to the Gehlot government's embarrassment, the state police made no progress in arresting the main accused, who remain absconding, with the BJP snapping at Gehlot's heels. It was against this backdrop that the bulldozers moved in. Jaipur Development Authority Chief Controller, Enforcement, Additional SP Raghuveer Saini said the coaching institute was demolished after several violations of building bylaws were found. However, he acknowledged that the immediate reason was the question paper leak case. The owner of the building, Anil Agarwal, claims he had given it on rent to a coaching centre and had nothing to do with the accused. As BJP Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria welcomed the demolition, Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters: "We are taking action. The BJP talks baseless things. Do they have any plan to stop paper leaks?"
