RJD workers and supporters marched towards Lok Bhavan in Patna over paper leaks, unemployment and alleged police excesses against students.
RJD leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav was detained on Wednesday as police used water cannons to stop his party’s march towards Lok Bhavan in Patna over paper leaks, unemployment and alleged police excesses against students.
The march began from JP Golambar, with RJD MPs, MLAs, workers and supporters joining Tejashwi as the Opposition sought to turn growing anger among students and job aspirants into a wider protest against the Bihar government.
Protesters breached police barricades at Dakbungalow Crossing before moving towards Income Tax Crossing, where police used water cannons to prevent the crowd from advancing further. Tejashwi was subsequently detained by police.
Some protesters were also seen carrying dummy AK-47 rifles, referring to the controversy surrounding a police constable’s use of the weapon during a student protest in Siwan last month.
Reacting to the police action, Tejashwi said water cannons would not weaken the agitation and claimed the government would eventually be forced to respond to the students’ demands.
“The public has awakened and is on the streets. Now the government will have to bow down. Such tactics won’t work,” he said.
Tejashwi also alleged that the police action was being carried out on the orders of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.
“We will continue our fight until justice is delivered to the students,” he said.
The immediate political trigger for the march was the controversy surrounding the use of an AK-47 rifle during a student protest in Siwan on July 25.
The Bihar government told the Supreme Court that a police constable had fired four rounds into the air after becoming trapped and surrounded by protesters. The government said none of the protesters was hit by the firing.
The state also acknowledged before the court that an AK-47 was a platoon-level weapon meant for special operations and should not normally be used for routine law-and-order duties. The constable was suspended and departmental proceedings were initiated against him.
The controversy intensified after the government transferred several senior IPS officers, including the Siwan SP, amid scrutiny of police action during the student protests.
RJD MP Misa Bharti, who joined Wednesday’s march, questioned who had authorised the use of the rifle and demanded action against senior officials if they had permitted it.
“We have heard that the Bihar government in the Supreme Court has admitted that the AK-47 was used. The Bihar government should have been asked who permitted the use of AK-47 in a protest,” Bharti said.
The march also highlighted broader concerns over recurring examination paper leaks, recruitment irregularities and unemployment, issues that have fuelled protests among students and job aspirants in Bihar.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said young people were angry over repeated examination controversies and the lack of employment opportunities.
“Students and youth across the country, especially in Bihar, are angry. Paper leaks have become a pattern. Young people can no longer bear the burden of unemployment. They do not want rhetoric; they want solutions,” Jha said.
RJD MLA Alok Kumar Mehta said the party planned to submit a memorandum highlighting students’ concerns to the Governor.
Tejashwi’s detention and the use of water cannons have now given the RJD’s campaign a fresh political flashpoint, bringing the Siwan firing controversy together with wider student grievances over examinations, recruitment and jobs.
