Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (May 9, 2026) took a dig at the Bihar government over a police lathi-charge on protesting aspirants demanding the TRE-4 examination date.

In a post on X, Mr. Gandhi said that when the youth hit the streets to demand their rights, they are not given jobs in their hands instead but rather lathis rained down on their backs.

He further said that India’s youth are fed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s lies. On Friday, a large number of teacher aspirants gathered at JP Roundabout and headed towards the office of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), demanding the notification for the TRE-4 recruitment.

Women also injured

During this incident, the police carried out a lathi-charge against the aspirants to stop them, in which several aspirants, including women candidates, sustained injuries in the clash. The aspirants alleged that the notification was not released as per the scheduled date, leaving the future of thousands of candidates in the darkness.

“Yesterday in Patna, teacher aspirants who were peacefully protesting for their right to employment were brutally beaten by the Bihar Police — again. BJP’s response to unemployed youth: Lathis. Unemployment is the biggest disease in India today, and its most devastating impact is falling on the youth of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” Mr. Gandhi said in the post.

“Millions of youths, holding degrees and skills in hand, are wandering from door to door. But the BJP government neither cares for them nor for you. When youth take to the streets to demand their rights, they are not given jobs in their hands — instead, lathis are rained down on their backs. India’s youth are fed up with the BJP’s lies — they will no longer stay silent, and the Congress stands with them,” he further mentioned in the post.

Following the TRE-4 agitation, an FIR has been registered against four individuals, along with several unidentified persons. Three people, including student leader Dilip Kumar, were detained who had claimed that nearly 13 lakh candidates were awaiting the notification.

Later, police came out with a statement that efforts were made to control the situation as they tried to persuade the protesting aspirants to return and not to break the police barricades. Police stated that despite repeated requests, the crowd was not ready to listen, and the protesters became aggressive resulting in a senior police officer sustaining injuries. Later, police used mild force in a restrained and controlled manner to disperse the crowd, they said.

On Friday, Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, had posted a message on X criticising the State government.

In a sarcastic remark over politicians’ children becoming Cabinet Ministers, Mr. Yadav said: “Make your own children ministers, and use lathis on the youth! This is exactly what is happening in Bihar. NDA leaders have made their children ministers without even participating in the electoral process. But millions of youth in Bihar, who have struggled for years studying hard, were promised by NDA leaders before the elections that vacancies for TRE-4 would be released. Yet even 6 months after the government formation, the advertisement for TRE-4 hasn’t been issued.”

He had further said, “On the contrary, lathicharge on those demanding the vacancies. Why does the NDA government hate Bihar’s youth so much? Why is it oppressing them? They are only asking to fulfil the promise on the basis of which votes were sought from them. These youth are just demanding their rights; they are only asking for the exams to be conducted so they can show their talent. But this anti-employment government is perpetrating atrocities; Bihar will not forget NDA’s betrayal of its youth.”