The Rashtriya Janata Dal and Left parties have called for a Bihar Bandh (shutdown) on March 26, in protest against the alleged assault on legislators during an agitation against the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021, inside the state Assembly on Tuesday.
Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday said the shutdown had been called against the autocratic attitude of chief minister Nitish Kumar and the way police were allowed entry into the Assembly to evict legislators protesting against the Bill.
“The state police have become Janata Dal (United) police. The police were deployed inside the Assembly to get a Bill passed which would give them unbridled powers,” he said at a press conference.
Yadav also hit out at the CM for trying to justify the police action inside the Assembly by reasoning that police were called because of the chaos created by Opposition members.
“Doesn’t the Opposition have the right to protest inside the House over a bill or any other issue? That does not mean police can be called to evict MLAs and drag out even women legislators. I have footage of how the police and others behaved on that day inside the Assembly,. All democratic values and ethics were thrown to the wind,” said Yadav.