Bihar govt weaponising police to evade accountability to students: Rahul

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 26 August hit out at the BJP-led Bihar government over student protests, accusing it of using the police as a "weapon" to evade accountability.

His remarks came amid a viral video of a six-year-old slum-dwelling boy making sharp comments at a student protest in Patna before police took him away and later handed him over to his mother.

Social media was abuzz with claims that the boy, Aditya, a resident of Punaichak in Patna, had been 'arrested' for participating in the protests. Police dismissed the claim, saying he was taken to the police station "for his own safety" and later handed over to his mother, who works as a domestic help.

In a post on X in Hindi, Gandhi said students in Bihar were asking straightforward questions about irregularities in recruitment examinations. "Why are there irregularities in recruitment exams? Why no action on allegations of paper leaks? And how long will this tampering with the future of the youth continue?" he asked.

"The controversy over BPSC exams is not of today. Students have been on the streets for a long time over the recruitment process, exam pattern, delays and transparency. But instead of answering, what is the government doing? It's wielding lathis and water cannons. It's taking students into custody," Gandhi said.

He also alleged that protesters in Siwan had been fired upon with an AK-47. "This is not just a question of police action; this is a question of the mindset of the BJP government, which has no answers. That is why it is turning the police into a weapon to evade accountability," he alleged.

Gandhi said the BJP government should understand that questions cannot be silenced with batons. "You can't snatch away someone's future by instilling fear. The students of Bihar will keep asking questions. And now, it's not just answers they want; they demand accountability," he said.

Thousands of students clashed with Bihar Police in Patna on Tuesday, hurling stones and facing water cannons and lathi-charge after being prevented from marching to the chief minister's residence to press their demands.

Most of the protesters were aspirants for the Teachers' Recruitment Exams to be conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) next month. They had announced a 'Mukhyamantri Awas Gherao' to demand that the written tests be conducted in a single stage rather than through preliminary and mains examinations.

A section of the protesters also demanded cancellation of the Combined Competitive Exams conducted by the BPSC earlier this year, alleging that they were marred by "irregularities".

Several Left-wing activists affiliated with organisations such as SFI and DYFI also joined the procession, which began at the historic Gandhi Maidan.

With PTI inputs