Who is the BJP leader who died during Patna protest? Family, colleagues remember committed party man

Hours later, Singh was dead, allegedly of injuries sustained in a police lathi-charge at the BJP’s protest against the Bihar government’s teacher recruitment policy. The resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was among the demands of the protesters. The 55-year-old’s family blamed the police, claiming that he did not have major health problems. Singh’s wife Pushpa Devi demanded a high-level inquiry into her husband’s death. “My husband was hale and hearty when he left. He died because of police atrocity,” she alleged.

Singh, who belongs to a Rajput family of farmers of modest means, was a first-generation politician. The eldest of a retired head clerk’s seven children, he joined the BJP in 2003 and three years later became the panchayat president. Thus started his journey up the party ranks in the district. The same year he was appointed the Jehanabad block president and in 2009 he became the party’s district secretary. Last year, Singh was appointed the BJP’s district general secretary.

#WATCH | "Nitish Kumar wants to do 'Gundaraj'…can send us to jail or shoot & kill but the agitation will continue", says Samrat Choudhary, Bihar LoP and state BJP chief https://t.co/KAPiYdqAom pic.twitter.com/mcpLqX80D9

— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2023

“Singh’s death will not go in vain. How can the state government comment on the reasons for Singh’s death when the postmortem has not been conducted yet?” asked state BJP president Samrat Choudhary, adding that the BJP would observe “Black Day” on Friday and organise district-level dharnas against “police excesses” the following day.

Jehanabad district BJP president Ajaydeo Kushwaha told The Indian Express, “Vijay Singh was a staunch BJP loyalist and used to complete the work assigned to him with utmost honesty. He served very well in his different party positions over the last two decades. He also galvanised party workers to attend the Patna march. We have lost a very committed organisation man.”