Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has completely transformed himself into the RSS-BJP mould, arguing that the forces which disrobed democracy in this brutal manner cannot be called a government.

The former Congress president, who has often been accused of nurturing a soft corner for Nitish, seems to have finally given up with the realisation that the Janata Dal United leader has adopted the RSS-BJP culture as manifested through the mindless violence against MLAs on the Assembly premises. Rahul was one among many Opposition leaders who felt Nitish’s political philosophy was not in tune with the RSS ideology and he would return sooner or later.

Tuesday’s incident shocked many political parties as they issued a joint statement condemning the police brutality which they described as an “unprecedented attack on India’s democracy”.

These parties also condemned the draconian law that triggered protests leading to police action. The joint statement was signed by parties like the Congress, NCP, DMK, RJD, Samajwadi Party, TRS, Shiv Sena, AAP, CPM and CPI.

The statement said: “The BJP-JDU government in Bihar has pushed through the draconian Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021, that confers unbridled powers upon Bihar Military Police to conduct raids and arrests without warrants. This is an unconstitutional bill that effectively transforms the police force into an armed militia to harass, suppress and crack down on academics, activists, journalists, the political opposition and all those who dare to speak truth to power. It is an insidious conspiracy to enforce a Police Raj in Bihar and portends what the BJP intends to do throughout India employing the sheer tyranny of power.”

It added: “Given this bill blatantly violates the rule of law and undermines human rights, Opposition MLAs from the RJD, Congress and other progressive parties raised their voices unitedly on the floor of the House. Rather than addressing their legitimate pro-people concerns, these MLAs were ruthlessly beaten and forcefully ejected from the Assembly. In doing this, the BJP and JDU have not only sought to throttle the voices of peoples’ representatives, but also assaulted constitutional principles. We unequivocally condemn this unprecedented attack on India’s democracy, and urge every Indian to stand by democratic principles.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said he never saw such police action against elected representatives on the Assembly premises in his 49-year-long legislative career and said one can imagine how police will deal with the ordinary citizens if they can beat up MLAs like this. He said these forces wanted to destroy democracy in India.

Manipur governor

A Congress delegation on Wednesday called on President Ram Nath Kovind and demanded recall of Manipur governor Najma Heptulla for not acting according to the constitutional scheme to ensure that the illegal government of the BJP continues in power in the northeastern state.

They submitted a memorandum to the President arguing that the governor was not acting upon their petition to disqualify 12 BJP legislators who were appointed parliamentary secretaries despite the high court declaring the appointment illegal. The Congress is demanding that these MLAs should be disqualified under the office of profit act.