‘Questions don’t stop with batons’: Rahul attacks Bihar govt over BPSC protests

Rahul attacks Samrat Choudhary govt over BPSC row

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday waded into Bihar’s escalating BPSC row, questioning the Samrat Choudhary-led government over allegations of exam irregularities and paper leaks. He referred to the police crackdown on protesting students, saying, “questions don’t stop with batons.”His statement came a day after a clash broke out between students and police in Bihar’s capital, with police using water cannons and barricades to stop the protesters from marching.Rahul described it as a “straightforward” question on behalf of Bihar’s students and posted on X: “Why the irregularities in recruitment exams? Why no action on allegations of paper leaks? And how long will this tampering with the future of the youth continue?”He then targeted the long-standing BJP-JD(U)-led government in Bihar, saying, “The controversy over BPSC exams is not of today. Students have been on the streets for a long time over the recruitment process, exam pattern, delays, and transparency.”The Lok Sabha leader of opposition also referred to the use of an AK-47 by a security personnel during an earlier student protest in Bihar, which coincided with student protests in Delhi and across the country over NEET fiasco.

“But instead of answering, what is the government doing? It’s wielding batons and water cannons. It’s taking students into custody. In Siwan, there was even firing with an AK 47 on protesters,” the former Congress chief said.He added in his post: “This is not just a question of police action. This is a question of the mindset of that BJP government, which has no answers – and that’s why it’s turning the police into a weapon to evade accountability.”“The BJP government should understand this – questions don’t stop with batons. You can’t snatch away someone’s future by instilling fear,” the Rae Bareli added.

Bihar students had marched towards Raj Bhavan and chief minister Samrat Choudhary’s residence to stage a “gherao”, but faced police barricading and some of them were detained in Patna.