Vijay Kumar Singh, BJP’s Jehanabad District General Secretary succumbed to injury after he was lathicharged by Patna police as he along with his supporters were holding a “Vidhan Sabha March” In order to disperse the crowd, Patna police had used water cannon and baton charged the protestors.
Another woman BJP worker was also killed during the protest. Several other protestors were injured as the police lathicharged at them while they were protesting against the state government over the recent recruitment of teachers in the state.
BJP workers dawned saffron kurtas, sarees, bandanas raised slogans like “Nitish Tejashwi istifa do” (Nitish Kumar must resign). The BJP supporters were seen atop a “prachar rath” (campaign vehicle). According to the police they had placed barricades at the Dak Bungalow crossing. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra said the police were forced to use water cannon and fire tera gas shells as protestors tried to cross the barricade.
#WATCH | Patna: Security personnel use several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse BJP workers protesting against Bihar govt pic.twitter.com/4zKcFh0TH7
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2023
Singh was quickly taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. Prominent Bihar BJP leader, Sushil Kumar Modi, who is also a member of parliament took to twitter to inform about the brutal killing of Singh. He said, “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 & BJP leader.”
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
BJP chief JP Nadda took to Twitter to denounce the unfortunate incident in which Singh lost his life. He said that the lathi charge done by the police was indicative of the failure and incompetence of the state government. He further said that the Bihar government was attacking democracy so that they could protect their corrupt practices.
भाजपा कार्यकर्ताओं पर पटना में हुआ लाठीचार्ज राज्य सरकार की विफलता और बौखलाहट का नतीजा है। महागठबंधन की सरकार भ्रष्टाचार के क़िले को बचाने के लिए लोकतंत्र पर हमला कर रही है।जिस व्यक्ति पर चार्जशीट हुई है, उसको बचाने के लिए बिहार के मुख्यमंत्री अपनी नैतिकता तक भूल गये हैं।
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) July 13, 2023
Protest by BJP over alleged recruitment of teachers by Bihar government.
The BJP supporters, leaders and workers came out in thousands to wage protest against the incumbent governement over the malpractices that have taken place while recruiting the teachers. The BJP leaders along with their supporters started their march from Gandhi Maidan to the Vidhan Sabha and Patna police brutally baton charged at them at the Dak Bungalow square.
The BJP had said that they would extend all support to teaching job aspirants who are raising their voice against the “no domicile” policy of recruitment, among other things.
Another BJP leader, MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal also suffered severe injuries. Ahead of the protest, state BJP president Samrat Choudhary said that they were holding the protest to fix accountability especially against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who had promised “10 lakh jobs”.
