Hundreds of Bihar Teacher Eligibility Test (BTET) and Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) candidates on Monday flooded the streets of the state capital Patna to protest against the delay in issuing official notifications regarding their appointment.
The BTET is a state-level entrance exam organized by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) to recruit teachers for state government schools, while the CTET is the exam conducted by the federal government.
According to media reports, the aspiring teachers were demanding the completion of the due recruitment process, stressing that they were unemployed despite passing the two eligibility tests.
The protesters also chanted slogans against Bihar’s education minister.
In order to control the protest, the state police resorted to baton-charging. A video of an officer thrashing a protester with a cane has gone viral on social media, triggering public outrage.
Patna’s Additional District Magistrate K.K. Singh is seen dragging and thrashing the protester, who is shouting while lying on the ground with the national flag in his hands. Soon, the flag is snatched away by one of the policemen.
As soon as the video had gone viral, the state's main opposition party -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- lambasted the Nitish Kumar-led government.
Slamming the newly-formed Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said in a tweet in Hindi: “This is the police of Nitish Kumar, who talked about giving 2 million jobs, brutally thrashing the aspiring teachers protesting for employment in Patna. Not only did they thrash the aspiring teachers, but also insulted the tricolor. This is the real face of the JDU-RJD government.”
Many other BJP politicians also made similar comments on the video. Apart from politicians, netizens also condemned the act and demanded that the police officer be dismissed.