Rahul slams Nitish over Assembly incident, says under RSS hold

A day after Bihar Legislative Assembly witnessed unprecedented scenes wherein Opposition lawmakers allegedly held Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha hostage in his chamber for three hours before themselves being evicted by the police, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi joined the issue on Wednesday, saying democracy has been murdered in Bihar after Opposition legislators were roughed up by the police inside the Assembly

A day after Bihar Legislative Assembly witnessed unprecedented scenes wherein Opposition lawmakers allegedly held Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha hostage in his chamber for three hours before themselves being evicted by the police, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi joined the issue on Wednesday, saying democracy has been murdered in Bihar after Opposition legislators were roughed up by the police inside the Assembly.

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“It is clear from the shameful events in Bihar Assembly that the chief minister is firmly under the influence of BJP and RSS. Those stripping democracy have no right to call themselves a government,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala urged people to raise their voice against the alleged police high-handedness in Bihar.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “A murderous attack on democracy has taken place. The attack on MLAs by armed forces is a criminal act,” said Yadav in a tweet in Hindi.

RJD legislator Awadh Bihari Chaudhury said, “I have never seen police entering the House and forcibly evicting and beating legislators.”

Congress legislature party leader in the Assembly, Ajeet Sharma, too questioned how the police were allowed to enter House and beat legislators.

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) general secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya said, “This is what happened in Uttar Pradesh also. It is all a blueprint of the RSS to make an autocratic state. But Bihar will never accept it.”

Political analyst NK Choudhary said the visuals from the House clearly showed a collapse of the democracy, but the initiation certainly was from the Opposition as they held Sinha captive and did not allow him to conduct House proceedings. “But there was an overreaction to it. There should have an attempt to find a political solution to the impasse. The Opposition also needed to behave responsibly...”

Vinod Kanth, senior lawyer at the Patna High Court, said one could not straightaway condemn any legislation. “A lot will depend on how it evolves. If there is any arbitrariness and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, the court is always there. If there is any sinister design behind it or it is stretched beyond the purpose for which it is made, people can approach court,” he said.