Bring us home, Bihar students in Kota intensify protest

The students from Bihar stranded in Kota have intensified their protest demanding Bihar CM Nitish Kumar take cognisance of their hardships and allow them to return home.

Around 18,000 other students have reached their home-states and 1,000 more will leave for Haryana on Friday along with 400 others who will be leaving for Assam. Besides, 1,500 students belonging to various places in Rajasthan will also leave for their places on Friday.

The students' return was facilitated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who had taken up the issue with his counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana. However, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not allow students to enter their home-state in the wake of lockdown.

These students since Thursday have started a silent protest in their hostels and have made posters showing Bihar government as dumb, deaf and blind. These pictures are going viral on social media. Many of these students have also started a hunger strike.

One student Ryan Arin from Bihar in his tweet, says, "Please help us. We are facing a lot of problems here . Send us back home. @narendramodi @NitishKumar"

He has also tagged PM Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

In his poster, he writes to Bihar CM, "Sirf Naam Janata Dal nahin, Kaam Karo Janata ke liye."

Another student Ashish Yadav posted a video on twitter where many students are seen standing on a roof raising slogans, "Nitish kumar, hamein wapas lao, chacha hamein wapas lao."

Around 11,000 students from Bihar are currently camping in Kota, said Rajasthan government officials.

In a press note issued by the Rajasthan CM office, it was informed that 12,500 students have reached their homes in UP and Uttarakhand, 2,800 in MP, 350 in Gujarat and 50 in Dadra Nagar Haveli.

According to a press note issued by the Rajasthan CM office, on Saturday, 100 students will leave Kota for Himachal Pradesh, 500 for different places in Rajasthan.

Around 40,000 students from different parts of India were stuck in Rajasthan during lockdown as they were preparing for different entrance exams in coaching centres in Kota.

Apart from 11,000 students from Bihar, there are 3,000 from Jharkhand, 2,500 from Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, 1,800 from Maharashtra and 1,000 students from Odisha are stranded in Kota.

The Rajasthan government is in talks with J&K government for the movement of students to their home states, said CM Gehlot, who has appealed to other state governments to help Rajasthan in sending the stranded students back home.