Anger boils over as campus goes to the streets in Patna

Like December 31, the Bihar bandh call today led to violence breaking out all over Patna and in several other districts. The politicians who had called the bandh were left behind as thousands of angry students and the common people took to the streets to vent their frustration against the administration.

In the Ashiana Nagar area — where three innocent youths were shot dead by policemen — even school kids joined college students to take on the might of the administration. Students threw their hands out, pointed to their chests and egged the police on to fire at them.

The drama continued from 10 am to 4 pm. ‘‘We are ready to die. They have forced us to a point where we don’t care anymore,’’ said Mohammad Ali, student of BD evening college who stood in the first line of the offensive throughout.

The students who filled the main road of the area threw stones at the police from the street, balconies and terraces and withstood hours of teargassing. Magadh University BSc final year student Sailesh Singh, 20, told his father, a shopkeeper in the area, that he had to go out on the streets to join his friend to protest against the killing of the three youths — Prashant Singh, Vikas Gupta and Himanshu Yadav.

‘‘We don’t care about netas. We are not getting help from any politician. They (the police) killed our friends and this is what they get,’’ said Singh. He said even his family couldn’t keep him back today.

‘‘Our demand is that the government should agree to everything the families want. They should hang those who were responsible for the killing of our three brothers. We can’t take this police atrocity anymore,’’ said Ali, who negotiated with the police for the release of four students who were arrested during the day in the locality.

The police fired 20 rounds in the air and used numerous teargas shells but couldn’t break down the resistance of the students.

‘‘We will increase the andolan. There are no divisions along caste or religious lines. We all want justice. They go and offer money as if that’s enough. We’ll take out a loan and give the government Rs 5 lakh,’’ said Singh.

The students finally reached an agreement with the police at 4 pm and said they would stop stone-pelting if the police moved back and released all those who had been arrested during the day. The police agreed. The police were in a dilemma. ‘‘The average age-group of this mob is 12 to 18. They are all like our children. How do we fight them?’’ asked an RAF jawan.

At other places too people took to the streets pelting stones. The roads were littered with stones and pieces of bricks. At two places, transport corporation buses which were being used to arrest protesters were burnt down.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the town, politicians tried to give leadership to the mass movement by sitting on a dharna shouting slogans against the RJD. But that also took a turn for the worse.

Senior leaders were lathicharged after a bus was set on fire half a km away from where the politicians were sitting. Former Union health minister C.P. Thakur, Leader of the Opposition Sushil Kumar Modi and some BJP MLAs were lathi-charged and received injuries. Eight BJP workers were taken to hospital with head injuries.

Soon afterwards, a bus full of BJP leaders and workers who had been arrested was set on fire and the leaders, including C P Thakur, MLC Ganga Prasad and other BJP MLAs, had to break windows and jump out. The police claimed a BJP worker carrying a flag had set the bus on fire while the BJP said the RJD workers had done it.

Over 2000 protesters, including several NDA leaders like state BJP president Nandkishore Yadav, Samata leader Raghunath Jha and PK Sinha and Samata Rajya Sabha member Lalan Singh were detained for defying prohibitory orders.

Violence erupted elsewhere too. In Ara district, a vehicle carrying five policemen was set on fire. In Gaya district, the vehicles of the SP and DM were burnt. At Khagaria, 16 people were injured in clashes with the police.

But in the end, the state administration decided to look the other way and said the situation was normal. ‘‘Over 2,000 people were arrested but the situation is under controlled,’’ Bihar DGP R R Prasad told journalists. Both Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and RJD chief Laloo Yadav monitored the bandh from a safe distance.