Jharkhand JTET Row: Bhojpuri & Magahi Excluded; Protests Erupt

Ranchi (IANS): A fresh linguistic controversy gripped Jharkhand after the state government excluded Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, and Angika from the Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) regional language list.

The decision triggered immediate protests from Opposition leaders and members of the ruling alliance alike.

Aspirants in the Palamu division and the Santhal Pargana region—where a large population speaks these languages—slammed the move. Many candidates fear the decision will hurt their performance in the long-overdue eligibility test.

BJP leaders seized the issue, accusing the government of discrimination. State BJP President and Rajya Sabha member Aditya Sahu previously wrote to Chief Minister Hemant Soren alleging “double standards.”

Sahu questioned why the government included Odia and Bengali—spoken near the Odisha and West Bengal borders—while omitting languages widely spoken in districts bordering Bihar. He argued that the omission lacks justification given the high number of speakers in Palamu, Garhwa, Latehar, Deoghar, Godda, and Sahibganj.

BJP state Vice President and former minister Bhanu Pratap Shahi echoed these concerns, calling the decision a disregard for local realities. He pointed out that Nagpuri, which the government included, has a limited presence in Palamu and Garhwa compared to Bhojpuri and Magahi.

Critiques also emerged from within the ruling establishment. State Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Radha Krishna Kishore acknowledged the anomaly and noted the substantial speaker base for Bhojpuri and Magahi in the Palamu region. He promised to raise the matter in the next Cabinet meeting.

Senior Congress leader and former minister K. N. Tripathi also criticized the exclusion, labeling it unfair to aspirants from Palamu.

Daltonganj MLA Alok Chaurasia (BJP) accused the government of jeopardizing the future of thousands of youths. He warned that denying candidates the option to test in their mother tongue would dent their confidence and performance. Chaurasia further cautioned that the government’s failure to review the decision could trigger widespread public agitation.

Meanwhile, policy officials defended the move, arguing that they consider the excluded languages primarily “Bihori” and not part of Jharkhand’s notified regional framework. This stance has only fueled the debate further.

With the JTET pending for nearly a decade, the controversy expects to intensify as political pressure forces the government to revisit its decision.