Barely two days after clashing with junior doctors in AIIMS Patna that led to protests and FIR, JNU’s leftist leader Kanhaiya Kumar is in the news again. According to reports, last night Kanhaiya and his supporters were involved in a violent clash with the organisers of a Durga Puja committee in Begusarai, Bihar.
According to reports, on Tuesday, Kanhaiya was returning to his native village Bihat after a public meeting in Mansurchak. While passing through Bhagwan Bazar in Begusarai, Kanhaiya reportedly stopped to meet the owner of a private coaching institute in the area. The vehicles of his entire convoy were parked on the road and thus created a traffic jam in the area.
The organisers of a nearby Durga Puja pandal reportedly came and asked Kanhaiya’s supporters to move their vehicles from the road. Kanhaiya’s supporters reportedly refused and a clash ensued between them and the puja organisers which soon turned violent.
Reports state that Kanhaiya’s supporters brought out sticks and lathis from their vehicles and started hitting the Puja organisers. Two organisers had got head injuries and several others have reportedly been injured. Many locals too came to join the clash and seeing the Puja organisers injured, they reportedly attacked the vehicles in the convoy and drove Kanhaiya and his supporters away.
Later, both groups have reportedly lodged FIRs against each other. Kanhaiya has reportedly told the media that it is a deliberate attempt to tarnish his ‘image’. SHO Deepak Kumar of the Bhagwan Bazar station has stated that one of the injured, Shanu Kumar, has lodged FIR against Kanhaiya under sections 147, 149, 307, 504 and 295.
On Sunday night, in AIIMS, Patna, Kanhaiya’s supporters had reportedly created a ruckus after a group of junior doctors objected to too many people entering a patient’s room. The junior doctors had protested against the misbehaviour of Kanhaiya and his supporters towards the hospital staff and had threatened to go on strike. The strike was called off after the hospital administration lodged an FIR against Kanhaiya and his supporters.
It is notable here that Kanhaiya has been declared the CPI(M) candidate for the Begusarai Lok Sabha seat. His candidature was finalised after an agreement with RJD as a part of the Mahagathbandhan.