Bihar has always been a centre of discussion for people living in other states of the country. While some people talk about poverty and immigrants from the state, most of them address Bihar as a politically charged state. They get amazed to see the Chai-debates happening all over the state and talking about the strategies of government and their drawbacks. But recently Bihar has seen the worst in the last few months. Whether it is counting the corpses of children because of acute encephalitis syndrome in Muzaffarpur and other places, or the recent flood due to which citizens suffered a lot, and the government made the least efforts to tackle it. Other than that the level of education in Bihar is degrading daily and in the name of health services, people have hospitals in their worst condition. Enraged by the failures and incompetence of the Bihar government, the common people organised a peaceful protest march in the heart of the state, Patna at 2 pm, on 19th October 2019.

The protest was peaceful in nature and the people marched around Gandhi Maidan. Initially, they planned to marched towards Hartali mod but they were not allowed to do so. This protest was not organised by any political party or institution and was solely regulated by the common citizens. Also, the protest was against the government and not against any political party or individual. Law-abiding people marched peacefully and showed their resistance. Most of the people who were taking part in the protest were youth.

“I request the citizens of Patna to take part in this peaceful protest and to express their dissent. You have faced the problems of water-lodging and you’re well known by the fact there are many places where the water is still there. Where people living on ground floor now have their things wasted because of the flood, the upper floor residents are still seized in their homes. Each and everyone I talked to, who are living in Patna are furious. This is the time to give a collective voice to your anger.

Come out of your houses and raise questions to alert the people we’ve given our mandate to fix the system. In a democratic structure, public occupies the position of a lord but when the public itself starts dividing people on the basis of caste, creed and religion, the government becomes careless. We have to look if the government is working properly or not. Let’s keep this right to ourselves. Attending protests and marches is just not about the youth. The younger lot will be there in larger number. You all should come because this march is not related to any political party or institution but to us. I also request all the people related to cultural and literary groups of Patna to attend this march.” wrote Pushy Mitra, one of the organisers in a Facebook post while announcing the protest.

#BiharSarkarJawabDo is trending on social media and people are talking about this protest. Many known people from Bihar like the actor Kranti Prakash Jha and Para-athlete Shams Alam, are requesting people to register their free voices.

Kranti Prakash Jha earlier made a small video which is going viral on social media, and requested people to take part in the silent protest. He very gently talked about the role of government and their failure in handling issues in the state. He recited a famous line of legendry poet Dushyant Kumar which said

“Sirf hungama khada karna mera maqsad nahi,
Saari koshish hai ki surat badalni chahiye..”

Kranti Prakash Jha and others joined the protest march and wanted to handover a letter with all the questions regarding the failure of authorities in dealing with recent issues to the governor. Town magistrate took the letter on behalf of the governor. The protestors said that they’ve given an ultimatum of 20 days to answer these questions. If the governor fails to do so then there will again be a protest and people will meet the governor.

Also Read: Bihar Flood: This Group Of Student Volunteers Are Extending Help To Flood Victims