The simmering anger over the arrest of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar on charge of sedition spilled over onto the streets with activists from the CPI-backed All India Students' Federation (AISF) attacking the state BJP headquarters on Beer Chand Patel Marg.
The attack took place around 12.30pm when some BJP members were preparing for a march from their office to the Income Tax roundabout to protest against what the party says are anti-national activities going on at JNU.
Security personnel were restraining the BJP workers and leaders against taking out the march when a group of protesters, mostly young boys and few girls carrying flags of the AISF and placards with pictures of chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD boss Lalu Prasad, descended on the scene.
BJP leaders claimed the youths were also carrying batons, stones and glass bottles.
BJP MLC Sanjay Mayuk, who was supposed to lead the march, said: "Our programme had already been fixed and we had taken due permission from the district administration. Some constables and a magistrate had been deputed near our office by the administration. However, as we assembled and were ready to move, the police stopped us from exiting the gate. We protested but the police tried to close the gate of the office. Amid all this, a large group of men shouting anti-BJP slogans came from nowhere and attacked our members without any provocation. We tried to resist but they started pelting stones and bottles on us. We too retaliated, but they attacked again and the police did nothing. One of our party workers got injured in the incident. The protesters carried flags bearing the pictures of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. Some of the flags were red and white in colour. All this has happened on the directions of the state government."
Additional police force had to be called in to control the situation.
While the BJP members went back to their office building, the members of the other group dispersed and fled after a mild lathicharge.
BJP state president Mangal Pandey termed the attack an act of cowardice by the AISF and supported by ruling parties. "The BJP will not tolerate this. If they want an open fight, we are ready. Such acts will not stop us from raising slogans or protesting against anyone who indulges in anti-national activities," Pandey said.
Countering the allegations, the AISF said it was the BJP members who attacked them.
"We had organised a protest march from the Income Tax roundabout to R-Block against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar. However, we had not taken permission from the district administration since the rules say that one has to take clearance 48 hours before any protest. The developments going on in Delhi have been very spontaneous and swift. As we were passing by the BJP office, they suddenly attacked us with stones," Sushil, the state general secretary of the AISF, told The Telegraph , adding that some RJD and JDU activists were accompanying them.
The JDU, while refusing to accept that their men were involved, said the attack was a natural repercussion. "Today's incident is unfortunate. But what is happening in Delhi would surely have repercussions. Our men, however, were not involved in the scuffle," JDU spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said.
The RJD's student wing, however, confirmed its participation in the march organised by the AISF. RJD student wing leader Umar Farooqh said: "We were just raising slogans against atrocities committed on students. BJP members provoked us and threw bottles following which we too charged towards them. Police, however, intervened, and but for a minor scuffle nothing much happened," he said.
The police said FIRs had been lodged from both sides. "The BJP and the AISF have lodged FIRs at the Kotwali police station. No one has been named in these FIRs. Instructions have been given to the local police to patrol the area regularly and a static police team will also be stationed at the Income Tax roundabout. No arrests have been made until now," Patna SP (Central) Chandan Kushwaha said.
The Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose to adopt a rather peaceful way of registering its protest against the JNU developments. Its Bihar unit general secretary Prabhat Kumar got his head tonsured at the main gate of Patna University. "We get our heads tonsured when somebody dies in the family. I did the same today because democracy is being killed by the BJP government at the Centre," he said.
