Cong, BJP workers clash in Patna

A violent clash broke out between BJP and Congress workers outside the Congress headquarters in Patna on Friday, following BJP protests over derogatory remarks allegedly made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother during a Congress rally in Darbhanga.

Tensions escalated as workers from both sides attacked one another with sticks and flags, damaging several vehicles parked inside the premises. The police intervened to disperse the crowd, though sources said several people were injured.

The flashpoint was a video that surfaced on August 27, showing a man, allegedly draped in a Congress flag, hurling abuses at the Prime Minister and his mother from the rally stage before his microphone was pulled away.

Senior BJP leader and minister Nitin Nabin, who joined the protest on Friday, alleged that stones were pelted and guns brandished from inside the Congress office. He said the protest had been intended as peaceful but warned that BJP cadres would not remain silent in the face of insults against Modi and his late mother. He further cautioned the Congress and its ally RJD that their leaders would not be allowed to “roam freely in Bihar” if such acts continued.

Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, reacting to the incident, posted in Hindi on X: “Falsehood and violence cannot stand before truth and non-violence. Beat and break as much as you want to beat and break — we will continue to defend the Constitution and the truth. Satyamev Jayate.”

Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal accused the BJP of attacking the Sadaqat Ashram headquarters in Patna. In a post on X, he wrote, “Baffled by the soaring popularity of the Voter Adhikar Yatra and the groundswell of public sentiment against them, the BJP has once again unleashed its hooligans to intimidate and scare us.”

He described the alleged attack, led by a cabinet minister, as cowardly and claimed the BJP was desperate in the face of public anger in Bihar. Venugopal called the vandalism the “worst form of political hooliganism” and urged citizens to rise in protest against what he termed a brazen assault on democracy. He demanded strict police action, including arrests of the ministers and leaders involved.

DSP (Law and Order) Krishna Murari Prasad confirmed that police teams reached the spot soon after the violence broke out and said an investigation was under way.