Bihar: Man hurls slipper at Nitish Kumar, thrashed

A youth, protesting over the continuation of reservation, threw his footwear at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during a party meet 'Chhatra Samagam' in Patna on Thursday.

The person, in his mid-20s, has been arrested. He has been identified as Chandan Tiwary of Aurangabad district in south-west Bihar.

The incident took place when Nitish was about to inaugurate the party event organised at the Gyan Bhavan. Suddenly, the youth, who claimed to be a member of the Swarna Sena, a newly-floated outfit of upper castes, got up from his seat and threw his shoe at Nitish.

The Chief Minister escaped unhurt as the footwear did not reach the dais. JD (U) activists caught hold of Tiwary and mercilessly thrashed him before the police took him into custody.

“Youths in Bihar are not getting jobs because of the prevalent system of reservation. I want Nitish to abolish quota in our state. But he recently said that no power on earth can abolish reservation. Hence I am angry with him,” the youth told the police during interrogation. He, however, did not show any remorse for his act.

This is the second incident when someone has hurled a shoe at Nitish. Earlier, in May 2016, a youth had hurled his footwear at the Chief Minister when he was holding his Janata Durbar.

The slipper hit Nitish, who was then going through an application. The youth, identified as Nitish of Arwal, was immediately taken into custody. The youth said he was angry as the Bihar Government had issued orders not to cook food between 9 am and 6 pm in village areas, besides avoiding religious rituals like ‘yagna’ during the same period. The order was then issued by the Disaster Management department so as to prevent incidents of fire during the summer months.