A BJP leader was allegedly killed while several other party workers were injured after police fired tear gas shells, used water cannons and resorted to a lathicharge to disperse their protest march in the state capital on Thursday.
The BJP took out the march from the Gandhi Maidan in Patna to the legislative Assembly to ask why chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance government has failed to provide the 10 lakh jobs it had promised after coming to power in August.
Several party leaders, workers and supporters lay injured on the road after the incident with blood oozing out of head wounds. Many were unable to walk. Maharajganj MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal was also among the injured.
The top brass of the Bihar BJP, including state president Samrat Choudhary, several MPs, MLAs and MLCs, also sustained lathi blows and were taken into custody during the mayhem.
The deceased was identified as one Vijay Kumar Singh, the party general secretary of Jehanabad district. He fell unconscious after the policemen allegedly hit him with sticks, and was rushed to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) where he died while undergoing treatment.
“Singh was a sincere party worker and leader. He died after suffering serious head injuries in the lathicharge. The Nitish government is murdering democracy. We had taken all required permissions for the march. The blood of Singh will not go in vain and the people will give a befitting reply to this government,” senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters while being arrested and whisked away in a bus.
PMCH superintendent Indra Shekhar Thakur said that the person (Singh) was brought to the hospital in the afternoon. “Our doctors tried their best to save him. He died during the treatment, after about 30 minutes of being admitted to the hospital,” Thakur added.
On the other hand, the police tried to wash its hands of the incident. “The deceased (Vijay) was found unconscious in Chajju Bagh area. He was taken to PMCH where he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). There were no signs or marks of outside injuries on his body,” Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajiv Mishra told reporters.
The BJP march was also in support of the government school teachers who are agitating across the state for better service rules, same work–same pay, the old pension scheme, and status of government employees.
As the march reached the Dak Bungalow crossing, which is the nerve centre of central Patna, it ran into barricades put up by the police and was stopped. A scuffle broke out between them as they tried to push ahead towards the legislative Assembly. It soon turned into a mayhem.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) slammed the BJP over the protest march in which violence occured. "The BJP is unnerved over the Opposition unity that is unfolding. It tried to spread anarchy in Patna with the help of lumpen elements. It is not for to be called a political party," JDU Bihar unit president Umesh Singh Kushwaha said.
BJP national president J.P. Nadda attacked the Bihar government over the police action. "The lathicharge on BJP workers is a result of the state government's failure and nervousness. The Grand Alliance government is attacking democracy to save the den of corruption. The chief minister has forgotten his morality to save a chargesheeted person," Nadda tweeted.
Leader of Opposition in the legislative Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha announced that the BJP would take out a Raj Bhavan march on Friday to protest the violence.
