Bihar Assembly adjourned over contractual teachers row

The Bihar Assembly was repeatedly disrupted on Wednesday after an unrelenting opposition demanded special debate over the police beating up agitating contractual teachers in Patna. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also taken suo-motu cognisance of the incident and asked the state government to respond by Monday.

The state assembly was adjourned twice over the issue. As soon as the house convened, the Rastriya Janta Dal (RJD) members started shouting slogans and asked for an adjournment motion. However, the speaker rejected their demand and the opposition MLAs marched into the well. State Water Resources Minister, Vijay Chaudhary tried to pacify the MLAs and said that the government is ready to present an explanation, which was rejected by opposition members. The chair tried to defuse the situation, but to no avail. The house was then adjourned till 12 noon. However, when the house reconvened, the din also retured. The house then adjourned till 2PM. The opposition accused the government of being insensitive and resorting to strong arm tactics on helpless teachers.

However, the government has accused the teachers of being violent and defended the police action. "The action was taken in self defense. There was a threat on the lives of the deputed policemen. Therefore they had to resort to baton charges, tear gas and water cannons." Chaudhary told the assembly later. Meanwhile, Supreme Court has also taken suo-motu cognisance of the incident and asked the state government to file a report by Monday.

The Police on Tuesday baton charged, used water cannons and fired tear gas shells on thousands of agitating contractual teachers, who were agitating near the state assembly premises for regularisation of services and pay parity with regular teachers. Almost 50 teachers, including women, and 10 police personnel were injured in this incident as the whole area turned into a battlefield. The police had to use batons, tear gas and water cannons to contain the situation, while some of the teachers retaliated with brick batting. One bus and a police jeep were gutted and more than 30 vehicles were damaged.