Bihar: No govt jobs for protesters

Patna: The Bihar government

has landed into controversy after the police headquarters

issued a directive stating that people indulging in road blockage and protests will not be eligible for government jobs or contracts. The Opposition said the order was “against the

Constitution”.

● THIS ORDER comes almost a week after Bihar Economic Offences Unit in a circular had said that offensive social media posts against the government, ministers and officials will be treated as cybercrime and invite penal action.

The Bihar government has landed into a controversy after the police headquarter issued a directive stating that people indulging in violent protests and road blockages will not be eligible for government jobs or contracts.

The circular says that the police will issue a verification report about the person’s character and also find out about his past criminal history.

“If anyone found indulging in a criminal act by engaging in any law and order situation, protests or road blockages and is charged for this, then it should be mentioned in the person’s character verification report by the police. Such people should be prepared for serious consequences as they will be barred from getting any government jobs or contracts”, director general of police S.K. Singhal said in the circular.

This comes almost a week after Bihar Economic Offences Unit (EOU) in a circular had said that offensive social media posts against the government, ministers and officials will be treated as cybercrime and invite penal action.

The unit had also informed all state government departments about the decision and asked them to report about individuals and organisations involved in such posts on social media.

The development has triggered strong reactions in Bihar.

The RJD which is the main opposition party in the state has termed the state government’s directive “against the constitution”.

“It seems that Nitish Kumar is trying to compete with Mussolini and Hitler by issuing such kind of directives. It means that if a person uses his democratic right to protest against the system then he will be denied a job. This also means that they will not give jobs and will not allow anyone to protest”, Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav said in a tweet.

“Why is the Chief Minister with 40 seats so scared?” he added. Hitting out at Nitish government, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary said that “The Constitution of India has provided us with the right to protest. The Chief Minister of Bihar himself had been part of many protests against several ruling regimes. Instead of taking harsh measures against the protestors, he should ask the administration to look into the problems of common people”.