A bill seeking to arm Bihar police with alleged draconian powers on Tuesday left the assembly virtually paralysed and the state capital’s streets in turmoil as RJD workers, led by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, clashed with security forces upon being thwarted from reaching the Vidhan Sabha premises in a huge procession. Yadav had, at a press conference in the morning, announced that he would be leading a gherao of the Vidhan Sabha premises while on the floor of the House an adjournment motion was moved by his party legislators over the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021.
The police took into custody Tejashwi Yadav and his elder brother Tej Pratap following heavy stone pelting by their party workers that led to the use of water cannons to disperse the protesters.
No sooner than the House assembled at 11 am, the opposition legislators began raising slogans in protest against the bill. Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinhas plea for raising the issue at an appropriate time went unheeded and, in exasperation, he adjourned the proceedings till noon.
In the meantime, a large number of RJD workers, led by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav and some other MLAs, gathered at the JP Golambar in the vicinity of the Gandhi Maidan from where they marched in a procession towards the Vidhan Sabha premises, about three kilometers away. Before leading the march, Yadav had also tweeted the famous Urdu couplet 'sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu e qatil mein hai', dropping ample hints that he was bracing for a do-or-die battle.
A huge contingent of police was deployed along the route in view of the procession having been taken out without seeking permission from the administration and the agitators not following COVID-19 norms like wearing of face masks. At the Dak Bungalow crossing, the RJD leaders were stopped by the police personnel and they retaliated by pelting the security personnel with stones. Water cannons were pressed into use following which the agitators began to disperse.
Meanwhile, uproarious scenes rocked the Vidhan Sabha again when it reassembled at noon and the oppositions adjournment motion was rejected, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings till 2 pm. The bill, which was introduced last week, seeks to rename the Bihar Military Police, give it more teeth and allegedly empowers the force to arrest people without a warrant.
(with inputs from PTI and IANS)
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