Opposition parties on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Nitish Kumar government after police lathi-charged protesting Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) aspirants, who are demanding a re-examination of the 70th BPSC preliminary exams.
Leaders from Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were among the people slamming the Bihar government for the use of force against thousands of protesting students.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav called the police action on protesting BPSC aspirants “painful” and condemned it.
“It is very painful how BPSC aspirants were beaten up by the police. Many people are badly injured in this. We condemn this. The visuals that have surfaced are painful. I am a young man and can understand their situation,” the RJD leader said in a video statement on Sunday.
On Sunday, lathi-charged and used water cannons to disperse thousands of protesting BPSC aspirants at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. The students were demanding a re-examination of the 70th BPSC prelims.
Tejashwi Yadav also raised questions over the BPSC for cancelling the preliminary exam for just one centre, where the alleged paper leak took place.
“On December 15-16, the BPSC announced the cancellation of the exam at one centre. If the paper had been leaked, then why is the exam being cancelled only at one centre? It is a kind of normalisation. That is why students are protesting for the re-examination. I also support this,” he said.
RJD’s INDIA bloc partner Congress echoed Tejashwi Yadav and slammed the Bihar government for the “merciless” action against the students, sharing a video of the incident.
“Watch this video. First, the Bihar government used water cannons on the youth in the intense cold and then used lathi-charge mercilessly. The police did not spare anyone. They just kept raining blows with batons,” the Congress posted on X.
“Unemployed youth in Bihar have been protesting against the rigging in BPSC exams for several days, but the government is not ready to listen to them. The government should leave its ego aside and talk to the youth and accept their demands,” it added.
Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh called the whole fiasco an example of the “dictatorship of the autocratic government”, saying that this was not expected from someone like Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“Deadly lathi-charge by police on BPSC candidates. The treatment like animals to the youth who have been on hunger strike for many days is an example of the dictatorship of the autocratic government. Nitish ji, who was born out of the student movement. This was not expected from you,” Sanjay Singh wrote on X and posted a video of the lathi-charge.
He demanded from the Bihar government that it resolve the demands of the students, stressing that the “country will be run not by sticks but by dialogue and the Constitution”.
Also, Prashant Kishor, the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, also extended his support to the protesting students and called for an end to systemic corruption in Bihar’s examinations.
The candidates have been protesting for more than a week seeking the cancellation of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination (CCE), 2024 conducted by the BPSC over allegations of question paper leak.
With inputs from ANI
