JD(U) leaders on Thursday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for defying administrative restrictions and holding a campaign at the Ambedkar Hostel in Darbhanga to gain "political mileage". Congress held the event as part of its 'Shiksha Nyay Samvad' initiative, focused on education justice.
However, the JD(U) leaders termed it politically motivated and disruptive. JD(U) Working President and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha questioned the legitimacy of holding political events in student hostels.
"Are political programmes held in hostels? Has this happened anywhere? The administration had asked for alternate venues and even approved the Town Hall. Still, Congress is crying foul for political mileage.
Rahul Gandhi is here only to do politics because it's election season," he said. Bihar Social Welfare Minister Madan Sahani went a step further, mocking Rahul Gandhi's visit. "Now that Rahul Gandhi has come to watch a movie, let him pass the time and leave after that.
The Congress and the Mahagathbandhan are going to be wiped out. In 2010, they got 22 seats. This time, they won't even get that," he claimed. Notably, Rahul Gandhi watched the 'Phule', the biopic on social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, at a cinema hall in Patna.
Sahani also questioned Rahul Gandhi's planning and preparation: "When he has no plan for himself, what plan will he make for the public? Is the Ambedkar Hostel a hub of politics now?" JD(U) National General Secretary Manish Verma echoed similar sentiments, stating: "Nitish Kumar's government built hostels for Dalit students to study, not for political rallies.
If Rahul Gandhi is so concerned, let him implement such welfare schemes in Congress-ruled states instead of politicising welfare infrastructure." Rahul Gandhi, who was denied permission by the district administration to hold the event at the Ambedkar Hostel, citing Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (formerly CrPC 144), walked to the venue on foot after his convoy was stopped.
At the hostel, he addressed a large crowd of students and supporters, stating: "The double-engine government of Bihar is trying to silence Dalit and Backward students. They tried to stop me, but they failed - because I have your strength. We demand a fair caste census and implementation of its recommendations like Telangana did."