BJP workers clash with police in Patna over teacher recruitment policy, one killed
In an attempt to march towards the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, thousands of BJP workers, including senior leaders, were dispersed by the police using tear gas shells and water cannons on Thursday (July 13). The protest was in response to the teacher recruitment policy of the Nitish Kumar government.
During the ongoing protests, a BJP leader named Vijay Kumar Singh died at Dakbangla Chauraha in the city. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi confirmed the news of the BJP leader’s demise on Twitter.
Arrested by Bihar police in Patna .Jehanabad dist GS Vijay Kumar Singh died in brutal police lathi charge.@ANI @ABPNews @News18Bihar @ABPNews @aajtak
— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) July 13, 2023
State BJP president Samrat Choudhary told reporters, before the march commenced at the historic Gandhi Maidan, that the opposition party was holding to account the government, especially Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who had promised “10 lakh jobs”.
#WATCH | Bihar | “It is so unfortunate that one of our party workers died due to a lathi charge by the police. He died on the way to the hospital. We will lodge murder charges against the police. Nitish Kumar is responsible for all this”: Sushil Modi, Former Deputy CM of Bihar &… pic.twitter.com/HVGmquoWJ4
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2023
“Everybody knows who made that rhetorical promise. Only one individual had done so. It is, now, the time to deliver,” said Choudhary, referring to the 2020 assembly poll campaign of the young RJD leader whose party came to power last year after BJP was stripped of the same with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s exit from the NDA.
BJP workers, many of them wearing saffron kurtas, saris, salwar suits and bandanas, walked waving the party flag while some were perched atop a “prachar rath” (campaign vehicle).
Also Read: Bihar: Protests rock Patna after govt decides to open teachers’ jobs to outsiders
Slogans like “Nitish Tejashwi istifa do” (Nitish Kumar must resign) rent the air as the procession covered a distance of about a kilometre until it encountered barricades put up at the Dak Bungalow crossing.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra said, “We have deployed extra forces at all sensitive points and barricades and where necessary traffic has been diverted to alternative routes.”
#WATCH | Patna: Police detains BJP workers protesting against Bihar govt on issue of the posting of teachers in the state. pic.twitter.com/9WciSN1Kvd
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2023
Notably, the Dak Bungalow crossing is situated around two kilometres from the Vidhan Sabha and, normally, processions are not allowed beyond the point.
When some of the agitators tried to cross the barricade, police resorted to the use of force and firing of tear gas shells, besides water cannons, sending the BJP workers scampering.
Also Read: Chirag Paswan hints at joining NDA after visit from BJP’s Nityanand Rai
The opposition party has sought to lend its support to teaching job aspirants who are resenting the “no domicile” policy of recruitment, among other things.
The government, however, has made it clear that the policy was there to stay pointing out that no state, which has sought to reserve seats for its own residents, has been able to withstand judicial scrutiny.
The opposition party is also backing the demand of “niyojit” (non-commissioned) teachers that they be recognised and it has alleged that teaching staff leaves have been cancelled to ensure that they do not join the stir.
The education department, besides cancelling all leaves and ordering “100 per cent attendance” at schools on the day, has asked the district administration in Patna to “identify” those teachers who had of late taken part in street protests.
(With agency inputs)
