Patna
Angry protests continue to greet Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar who is currently on another yatra (tour) of the state since early this week. This is the 11th tour of the chief minister during his past 12 years in office, surpassing even his “mentor” BJP patriarch L.K. Advani.
Kumar embarked on another yatra of the state on December 12 from the historic town of northern Bihar’s Bagaha in West Champaran to review the progress of development schemes he launched during his tenure. Much to his disappoint, however, he has faced angry protests wherever he went in the course of his tour.
Today again, a group of people showed him black flags and shouted slogans against him as he addressed a public meeting in Madhubani district. Once the chief minister began his speech, a large number of protesters waved black flags at him, much to his annoyance. The protesters who hail from the education department were demanding “equal pay for equal work”.
On Thursday too, he had faced angry crowds after he reached on the third day of his tour in Sitamarhi district. The protesters who included contractual teachers, created a ruckus at the public meeting being addressed by the chief minister once they came to know that the state government had moved the apex court to challenge the lower court’s order for “equal pay for equal work”.
An irritated chief minister later said nothing is going to help them as he was unable to hear anything they are demanding. His visit to east Champaran too was marked by protests as the angry contractual nurses shouted slogans against the government. The contractual nurses too are seeking for “same pay for same work” to end the wage disparity.
What was even more disappointing, was that Kumar’s first day on tour which he started from Patilar village in West Champaran was also disrupted by protests as angry crowds even allegedly hurled a slipper at him although it didn’t hit the chief minister. Similar scenes had been witnessed when the chief minister had proceeded on Adhikar yatra (tour for rights) in 2012, demanding special category status to Bihar which ironically still remains unfulfilled even though his own ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is in power at the centre.
Kumar so far has undertaken 10 yatras in the state, although things have hardly changed in the state in the past 12 years since he has been in power. The first time he had undertaken a yatra was in July 2005. This was nicknamed “nyay yatra” (justice tour).
Since then yatras have become a way of life for Kumar and he undertook variety of yatras with limited purposes which include “vikas yatra” (development tour), “dhanyavad yatra” (thanksgiving tour), “pravas yatra” (sojourn tour) in 2009, “vishwas yatra” (confidence tour) in 2010, “seva yatra” (service tour) in 2011, “adhikar yatra” (rights tour) in 2012, “sankalp yatra” (pledge tour) in 2014, “sampark yatra” (contact tour) in 2014 and “nishchay yatra” (resolve tour) in 2016.
