Following the death of BJP worker and Jehanabad district general secretary Vijay Singh in alleged police lathi charge in Patna, the BJP said that the death was “pre-planned conspiracy” of the Nitish Kumar government to stop people from demanding their rights and justice.
On Thursday, the saffron party alleged that a leader from their party died after sustaining injuries during a police lathi-charge that took place as party workers were marching towards the Bihar Assembly in Patna during a massive protest against the teacher recruitment policy by the Nitish government in the state. However, the district administration denied the charge, saying there were no injury marks on the body.
The police allegedly fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to stop party workers from marching to the Bihar Assembly.
BJP leader and Union minister Nityanand Rai said the “brutal” lathi charge and use of tear gas shells by the police on the BJP leaders and workers was a reminder of the British Raj. “Police lathi charge on BJP workers was a pre-planned, state-sponsored conspiracy to stop people of Bihar from demanding their rights and justice,” the Minister of State for Home Affairs said.
“It’s Jungle Raj 3.0 in Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav,” he added.
The BJP workers on Friday staged a protest outside the Bihar Legislative Assembly and observed ‘black day’ to protest the death of Singh. They held up placards inscribed with messages and slogans such as ‘Murderer Nitish government resign’, and ‘Shame on Patna district administration’.
During the protest, BJP MLA Sanjay Singh was marshalled out of Bihar Assembly.
Singh told ANI, “I was condemning yesterday’s incident, was speaking about the atrocities done by the state government yesterday. Suddenly, Speaker asked the marshals to take me away and they threw me out of the Assembly house…This government is not letting us speak either in the Assembly house nor on the streets…They have invoked emergency in Bihar.”
Meanwhile, BJP MP and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is currently leading a BJP fact-finding team in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district to enquire into the panchayat elections violence, condemned the police lathi charge on party workers in Patna, while comparing the Bihar CM with his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee.
He also claimed that several BJP leaders were beaten up by the police on Thursday while a worker was killed in the stampede that took place during the police lathi charge in Patna.