Addressing a press conference at IMA Hall in Patna on May 23, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the BJP has not only removed Nitish Kumar from power, it has overturned his entire political discourse and governance model. He said that in Bihar, the language of good governance is being replaced by bulldozer and encounter raj, development is being replaced by displacement, and communal harmony is being replaced by hatred, mob lynching and violence.
Dipankar said that repressive actions against Dalits, the poor, minorities, women, students, youth and workers are being turned into the new normal. The bulldozer has become the symbol of BJP rule. It is not being used against the mafia, corrupt forces or big criminals, but against the poor, pavement vendors, slum dwellers and Muslims. These actions are being carried out by bypassing law and judicial process.
He said that people in Bihar are now being declared criminals and shot without any fair investigation or judicial process. The police are openly saying that bullets will not be fired at the legs, but at the chest. Through the politics of bulldozers and encounters, anyone can be branded as Bangladeshi, encroacher or anti-national and made a target. Referring to incidents of police action over the last four days, he said that five people were shot without any transparent investigation, and a particular community was targeted.
Dipankar said that students and youth across the country, especially Gen Z, are seething with anger. This anger is being expressed on social media through the slogan “Cockroach Janata Party”. On the one hand, unemployment is at its peak, while on the other, recruitment examinations are repeatedly hit by paper leaks. From Delhi to Patna, the education system has been captured by the mafia and corruption. The paper leaks in examinations like NEET and BPSC AEDO are not mere administrative failures, but the result of an organised criminal network enjoying political protection. The future of lakhs of students and youth is being destroyed.
Condemning the use of the word “cockroach” for students and youth by the Chief Justice of India, Dipankar said that this remark is an attack on the dignity of the young generation. Those who have no jobs, whose examinations are being leaked and who are being beaten with lathis have every right to protest, and no one has the right to insult them. He also condemned the lathicharge on teacher aspirants in Patna and said that the government is choosing repression instead of dialogue and resolution.
He demanded the resignation of the Union and Bihar Education Ministers, saying that those responsible for destroying the education system must be held accountable. To take the widespread student-youth anger from social media to the streets, AISA and RYA have called for a statewide protest day on 24 May. He said that the students and youth who have been called “cockroaches” will now come out on the streets to fight for their dignity, employment and right to education.
Dipankar also said that repression on workers’ movements has intensified in Bihar and across the country. Workers’ leader Satyam Verma and several pro-people activists are being jailed under draconian laws like the NSA.
He said that the process of handing over fertile agricultural land in Bihar to corporate companies has been accelerated. Referring to the land being given to the Adani Group in Bhagalpur at throwaway prices, and the government order stopping sale and purchase of land across 11 districts in the name of satellite townships, he said that this corporate land grab will not be accepted.
