Patna: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday condemned the police lathicharge on teacher aspirants near J P roundabout in Patna and alleged that the BJP responds to unemployed youth with 'lathis' instead of jobs.
Taking to social media platform X, Rahul described unemployment as the 'biggest disease' in the country and said its impact was being felt most severely by the youth of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
'Yesterday in Patna, teacher aspirants who were peacefully protesting for their right to employment were brutally beaten by the Bihar police again. BJP's response to unemployed youth: Lathis,' Rahul said while sharing videos of the protest and police action.
'Unemployment is the biggest disease in India today, and its most devastating impact is being felt by youth of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Millions of youth, armed with degrees and skills in hand, are wandering from door to door,' he said.
'But the BJP govt neither cares for them nor for you. When the youth take to the streets to demand their rights, they are not given jobs in their hands; instead, lathis are rained down on their backs,' Rahul added. 'India's youths are fed up with BJP's lies – they will no longer stay silent. And the Congress stands with them,' he said.
A large number of teacher aspirants had staged a demonstration in Patna on Friday against the delay in issuing the notification for the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) TRE-4 examination.
The protesters said the BPSC TRE-4 examination, meant to fill over 46,000 teaching posts, was expected to be notified in April 2026.
The issue also triggered strong reactions from other opposition parties.
State Congress president Rajesh Ram condemned the 'brutal lathi charge and mistreatment of agitating female teacher-aspirants by the police personnel'. He said vacant posts of science and English teachers in govt schools were affecting the quality of education.
The CPI(ML), along with its student wing AISA and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), also criticised the police action and announced statewide protests on Sunday against the lathi charge and delay in issuing the TRE-4 notification.
'The Friday's barbaric police lathi charge on the TRE-4 aspirants is reflective of the open display of the mentality of the BJP-JD(U) government in the state,' the CPI(ML) said.
The party alleged that the state govt was resorting to repression instead of addressing the demands of job aspirants.
