Patna, July 23 (IANS) The political temperature in Bihar soared on the third day of the monsoon session as the police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse workers of political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party while they were attempting to lay siege to Vidhan Sabha.
On Wednesday, while the RJD-led opposition created an uproar inside the House over Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and law and order issues, the Jan Suraaj Party took to the streets with a call for Vidhan Sabha gherao.
Prashant Kishor had announced to lay siege to the Assembly over various issues, including jobs, land rights, and “corruption” in the land survey process.
The party claimed to have collected one crore signatures across the state, emphasising that these issues are directly affecting the people of Bihar.
On his call, a large number of Jan Suraaj Party workers gathered in Patna and began marching towards the Assembly.
The police tried to stop them near Chitkohra Golambar, but protesters attempted to force their way towards the Bihar Assembly, leading to a confrontation.
As the situation escalated and protesters did not pay heed to repeated warnings, the police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. Several workers were injured in the process.
Prashant Kishor has consistently argued that the Bihar government has “failed” to provide jobs and secure land rights, and has criticised the “corruption and inefficiencies” in land surveys, which have left many poor and marginalised families in limbo.
“Today’s gherao of the Bihar Assembly was a people’s movement to hold the government accountable on these core issues. The way police initiated the lathi-charge on us is unacceptable. We would remove the Nitish Kumar government from Bihar,” Kishor said.
After the lathi-charge, a delegation of Jan Suraaj Party reached the Chief Secretary’s office to meet him.
Inside the Assembly, the opposition continued its protest over voter list revision under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and law and order concerns, forcing adjournments.
Outside the Assembly, the Jan Suraaj Party sought to corner the government from the streets, signalling an expanding political battlefield in Bihar ahead of elections.
–IANS
ajk/svn
