Patna: A young man in Bihar on Thursday hurled footwear at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to protest the reservation policy which he says has left the upper caste people unemployed.
Police have arrested the youth.
Reports said the chief minister was addressing a gathering of student leaders of the Janata Dal United party in Patna, when the angry young man threw his slipper at the chief minister, aiming to hit him, but missed.
The slipper landed among the crowd.
Very soon, the party leaders caught the man, kicking and punching him before he was arrested by the police. Identified as Chandan Kumar Tiwari, the man is said to be associated with Swarn Sena, an upper caste organisation. He told the police that he was angry over the “discriminatory government reservation policy”, which has left youth from the upper castes unemployed.
“I registered my protest against the discriminatory reservation policy, which helps even the better off among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes even as the poorest of the poor among the Dalits have been left to fend for themselves,” he said.
The continuing protests by Swarn Sena against the reservation policy and restoration of provision for immediate arrest under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has assumed an alarming proportion in Bihar, as angry protesters have gone on showing black flags to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders.
So far, they have shown black flags to BJP ministers Smriti Irani, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, both central government ministers; Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar; and Manoj Tiwari and Nityanand Rai, both party MPs. Last month, the Swarn Sena had enforced a shutdown in the state over the twin issues.
