A day after Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha expressed strong displeasure at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s remark that allegedly demeaned him, his supporters on Saturday took out a protest march in Patna which ended up in a clash with the police.

The march, organised under the banner of Bharatiya Kushwaha Ekta Manch, set off from Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to the Raj Bhavan, but as soon as it reached the Dak Bungalow intersection, the police resorted to a baton-charge. Some protesters and passers-by suffered injuries. The police said some of their personnel too were injured when protesters threw stones at them.

“Chief Minister Nitish Kumarji, if you had explained the meaning of your comment publicly instead of ordering baton charge, it would have been a good gesture…perhaps people’s anger would have died down,” Mr. Kushwaha tweeted after the incident.

On Friday, Mr. Kushwaha had told journalists: “Mr Nitish Kumar, who I consider as my elder brother, has hurt me by calling me a neech (lowly person).”

During a recent programme organised by a national magazine in Patna, Mr. Kumar, while responding a question on Mr. Kushwaha, had said that “the level of discussion should not be taken so low (neeche)”.

Mr. Kushwaha recently said that Mr. Kumar had reached a saturation point in power and “does not want to continue in his post after 2020”, which was immediately rebuffed by the JD(U) leaders. “I’m neither doing any politics nor making any satirical comment on the chief minister, but he (Nitish Kumar) himself has expressed his desire not to continue beyond 2020. He has himself told me that he has ruled for 15 years and for how long would he be the CM,” said Mr Kushwaha. This was immediately rebuffed by JD(U) leaders, who said “Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister of the state even after 2020”.

Meanwhile, The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) slammed the State government for resorting to baton charge on a “peaceful march by Kushwaha community people in Patna”. It shows “The baton charge on members of Kushwaha community who were taking out a peaceful march in Patna the Chief Minister’s days are numbered and now the RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha should formally come out of NDA”, said senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari.