Patna:
Slippers were thrown at the stage during Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's rally in Madhepura today, allegedly by contract teachers demanding better pay and working terms.
This is the latest violence in a series that also included stones, eggs and slippers flung at him in other public meetings during the chief minister's ongoing
Adhikar yatra (Rights March). Most of the violence is being carried out teachers who the Nitish government has taken on contract. They are demanding their term be regularised and their pay be at par with permanent teachers.
"Some of them threw four or five slippers at the stage where the chief minister was sitting to express their anger," a police official said. The police first tried to disperse the teachers, numbering in their hundreds, but when they failed, some of them were arrested, an official said.
His meeting today at Saharsa saw extensive security, stepped up after the apparently daily violence that is following him through his tour. Some of the protesters are believed to be affiliated to the Congress student wing NSUI, but most, especially the contract teachers are allegedly linked to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, whose chief Lalu Prasad was the chief minister before Mr Kumar.
The chief minister is touring the entire state to create pressure for his demand that Bihar be given special status that will make it eligible for extra financial aid from the Centre.
On Thursday, contractual teachers waved black flags, threw eggs and slippers, and shouted slogans at his public meeting in Bihar's Begusarai district demanding regularisation of services.
Official sources said a group of protesting teachers suddenly sprung up from among the local people waiting to welcome Mr Kumar on the road to Gandhi stadium, the venue of the public meeting, waved black flags and raised slogans in support of their demands.
At a meeting in Khagaria, seeing a crowd of protesters advancing towards Mr Kumar's motorcade, a former MLA snatched and fired in the air a policeman carbine. The opposition has demanded action against him, but the JD(U) defended the action, saying the chief minister's life was under threat.
(With inputs from IANS)