Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi expressed anger at the “inhuman” treatment of student protesters in Bihar

New Delhi: Congresswoman Priyanka Gandhi Vadra voiced her disapproval on Monday of the “inhumane” treatment of student demonstrators in Bihar who have been calling for the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) to cancel the Integrated Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination (CCE) 2024. She said that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) two-engine administration has come to represent two “atrocities” against young people.

Gandhi took issue with the Bihar government’s deployment of water cannons on students during the cold weather and police lathi charges against them. She said that rather than reducing corruption, the students’ voices were being silenced.

“In Bihar, students experienced oppression for the second time in three days. The government is responsible for preventing test corruption, cheating, and paper leaks. However, kids’ voices are being silenced rather than corruption being stopped. It is cruel to use water cannons and lathicharge young people in this bitter weather. Gandhi, a Congress MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, wrote on X that the BJP’s twofold engine has come to represent double horrors against the young.

Prashant Kishor, the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, had previously joined the BPSC candidates and said that the Bihar government was transforming democracy into “lathi-tantra.” He said that the students were entitled to demonstrate in public areas.

However, Kishor got into a verbal altercation with several of the students who were protesting in a video that went viral on Monday morning and was posted by Rajesh Ranjan, an Independent MP from Purnea who goes by the moniker Pappu Yadav. “Ye naya naya neta abhi…abhi kambal mange ho humse aur…” was spoken by Kishor in the video, upsetting the pupils.

Yadav made fun of Kishor by claiming that the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) was a new leader who was flaunting his influence.

“Prashant (Kishor) has emerged as a new leader and is displaying his authority by threatening the students. He is brimming with conceit now, when he does not fully use his political authority. Large regimes have been overthrown by students. Who are you? You turned your back and fled when the cops beat up the students. You mistreated them for posing inquiries. Yadav made a post on X.

Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the RJD, had earlier denounced the lathi charge on protesting candidates for the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), who are demanding a reexamination of the 70th BPSC preliminary exam.

The former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister remarked in a video statement: “The way the cops beat up BPSC candidates is really terrible. This has seriously hurt a lot of individuals. We denounce this. The images have emerged, and they hurt. As a young person, I can relate to their predicament. First, protests against normalization were taking place.

He emphasized that the RJD brought the subject to the notice of the Bihar administration and took it up in the Vidhan Sabha.

Earlier on Sunday, Bihar police deployed water cannons and lathicharged the BPSC candidates who were protesting at Gandhi Maidan, Patna. According to SP City Sweety Sahrawat, the police fired water cannon on the students after they had pushed them.

One of the candidates, meanwhile, said that they would not fall prey to politics and that efforts are being made to refocus the conversation.