Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday condemned the alleged use of an AK-47 against protesting students in Bihar over demands related to the BPSC examinations.
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 batons and water cannons. It’s taking students into custody. Rahul further alleged that the BJP government was using the police as a weapon to evade accountability, adding that the use of such force would not stop students from raising questions. “The government will not engage in dialogue with students and youth fighting for transparency in the examination system and for jobs and education. At such a time, as a responsible ally of the NDA, it was also my responsibility to take the rightful demands of the students to the government.
He added that police in Siwan had also allegedly opened fire with an AK-47 at protesters. In Siwan, there was even firing with an AK 47 on protesters,” Rahul said.
In a post on X, Rahul said that instead of listening to the students’ demands, the government was using batons and water cannons against them. Instead, it will get arrogant officials to insult them and have the police brutally lathi-charge peaceful protesters,” the RJD leader said in a statement. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan said , later in the day, that he presented demands of the students before Bihar chief minister Samrat Chowdhary.
“The controversy over BPSC exams is not of today. Tensions escalated in Patna on Tuesday as police deployed water cannons to disperse students marching towards Raj Bhavan and the chief minister’s residence to protest against the 70th Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination and demand its cancellation. The Union Minister posted on X on Tuesday, “Today, seeing the pictures of the lathi charge on the aspirants of the 70th BPSC exam in Patna left me deeply disturbed. Upon reaching Patna today, I immediately went to the protest site and reached out to the students, listening seriously to their problems and demands.”
