NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed the BJP government led by the Delhi chief minister, Rekha Gupta, over the lathi charge on the protesting Staff Selection Commission (SSC) aspirants at New Delhi’s Ramleela Maidan.He accused the government of using force to silence the students and suppress their voices, who were protesting against irregularities in the SSC exam. The students, who have been fighting for justice for months, were met with force in the darkness of the Saturday night, leaving many with injuries. Media personnel were also stopped from covering the news, sparking widespread outrage.In a post on social media X, Kejriwal alleged that BJP has made a mockery not just of democracy, but of the entire system.“See the BJP’s dictatorship and thuggery…Open thuggery is rampant in the country. Those who question the BJP are silenced by ordering lathi charges against them. Anyone can be picked up and thrown into jail, any law can be changed whenever they want. If someone doesn’t vote for the BJP, their vote is cut,” he posted.The students are demanding a re-examination, cancellation of the current exam results, and action against those responsible for the irregularities.“These students have been fighting for justice for months over the irregularities in the SSC exam. Instead of listening to their voices, they were beaten with batons in the darkness of the night. Imagine… the hands that should have been holding books yesterday now bear the marks of injuries. Media personnel were also stopped from covering the news,” added Kejriwal.The SSC is a statutory body that conducts recruitment exams for various posts in ministries, departments, and other government organisations.The Phase 13 exam, conducted between July 24 and August 1 across 194 centres in 142 cities, was plagued by abrupt cancellations, software crashes, biometric verification failures, and erroneous centre allotments. During the test window, around 5 lakh candidates appeared for the examination.These disruptions triggered a wave of protests across Delhi last week, bringing thousands of aspirants to the streets and also resulting in a strong backlash on social media.