PATNA: Supporters of RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha were on Saturday lathi-charged by police during their protest march against Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar’s allegedly derogatory remarks against the Union minister.
Police wielded the lathi on hundreds of people from the Kushwaha community who were marching towards the Raj Bhawan in Patna chanting slogans against Nitish Kumar. Assembled under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Kushwaha Mahasangh, the protesters demanded that the CM take back his words against the RLSP chief.
Over a dozen protesters, including women, were injured in the lathi-charge. Some protesters were seen bleeding from the head after the lathi-charge. The injured people were admitted at New Gardiners Hospital, where senior RLSP leaders visited them.
The lathi-charge caused a further slump in relations between RLSP and JD(U), both NDA partners, a day after Upendra Kushwaha said his party is an ally of BJP and not JD(U). Kushwaha has been insisting on RLSP getting more than three seats to contest in next year’s Lok Sabha polls while BJP and JD(U) seem unwilling to grant it more than two seats. Meanwhile, Kushwaha has accused Nitish Kumar of terming him as a “lowly person” at a public event.
“The lathi-charge is a very sad, condemnable and shocking incident… Bihar government’s police keeps criminals in good humour, but breaks the heads of agitators,” said Kushwaha. “What kind of justice is it to have innocent people bleeding and have women beaten up with lathis?” he asked in a tweet.
In another tweet addressed to Kumar, Kushwaha wrote: “It would have been very kind of you if you had publicly explained the meaning of your statement instead of ordering lathi-charge on the people of Kushwaha community. It would have pacified them and there would be no need for their agitation”.
RLSP national general secretary Madhaw Anand, who visited the injured protesters at the hospital, condemned the lathi-charge. “The attack on the Kushwaha protesters and the insult heaped on Upendra Kushwaha have hurt the entire Kushwaha community and the people of Bihar,” he said in a tweet.