After a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP tried to stop Leftist leader Kanhaiya Kumar from holding a protest rally in Bihar against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar personally intervened to allow the same.

Allowing the former Jawaharlal Nehru University student to carry on with his plans, the Bihar CM sent out to a subtle message to the leaders of the ruling party, reminding them who “the boss” was.

Notably, the Janata Dal-United (JDU) chief has already expressed discontentment with the Centre’s plan to make the National Population Register public. He said: “There is a lot of confusion and panic regarding the NPR. New questions have been added and we want it to be dropped.”

A BJP parliamentarian allegedly urged the administration of Bihar’s West Champaran district to block Kanhaiya Kumar’s anti-CAA protest march, reported the NDTV. Upon learning about it, Nitish Kumar stepped in to reprimand the arbitrary move. He called up the concerned administrative officials and slammed them for blocking the march.

On January 30, a protest march against the contentious new citizenship law was taken out by Kanhaiya Kumar and Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmed Khan. It was flagged off from Bhitiharwa in West Champaran district. Their movement was restricted shortly after when district officials informed that their permission to hold the march has been withdrawn.

Both the protest march leaders were detained too, and Kumar alleged that it was Bihar BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal’s plan to block their march forward.

Nitish Kumar learnt of the episode through television news and rung up the concerned officials immediately to sort out the situation. He reportedly reminded the babus and the cops that it is every citizen’s right to hold peaceful protests and the government’s duty to provide safe and secure passage.

Following the telephone conversation, the district officials personally escorted the two leaders and the fellow demonstrators to the scheduled venue of the public address. The entire incident was regarded by Kumar as a slap on the face of the saffron party, who thanked the CM for the gesture.