In what may be seen as a "moment of truth" as a phone call by the Opposition leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav to a top official has gone viral on social media. Tejashwi made this call while meeting the protesting teachers in Patna to extend his support.
The RJD leader made the call to Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh on the spot when he was told by the protesting teachers that they had been denied permission for a sit-in at their planned venue. Former Deputy CM spoke to the Chief Secretary, police chief and the Patna District Magistrate and extracted an assurance that the protest would be allowed.
“These people say they are not being allowed to sit on dharna," Tejashwi said in the video while speaking to the District Magistrate. "Will they need to keep asking for permission daily? There has been a lathi charge, their food has been thrown away, they were driven away...Now they are all scattered. Some of them are here at Eco Park with me...,” he said in the video which has now gone viral.
Asserting that the teachers only wanted to exercise their democratic right to protest, the RJD leader said: “Whatsapp kara dete hai inka application (I will send you their application by WhatsApp. You please allow them.”
The District Magistrate on his part said that he would look into the matter.
Tejashwi shot back saying: "Kab tak bataiye (When will you do it?)"
The District Magistrate replied: "Kab tak meaning? You will question me?"
The RJD leader replied: "Hum Tejashwi Yadav bol rahein hai, DM sahab (This is Tejashwi Yadav speaking)."
There was an instant change of tone. "Achha sir, sir, sir (Ok, sir)," the District Magistrate replied as the protesters burst into laughter.
"I will send you a WhatsApp test. Respond fast or we will have to sit here all night," Tejashwi said and disconnected the call.
Watch The Video:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reminds me of a scene from <a >@AnilKapoor</a>'s 'Nayak' film!<a >#TejashwiYadav</a> <a >pic.twitter.com/ShjKGUv7SD</a></p>— Er.Altaf Ansari ( Stay home stay safe ) (@altaf4u89) <a >January 21, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In Bihar Assembly Elections held last year, Tejashwi-led RJD and its alliance Mahagathbandhan secured 110 seats while NDA bagged 125 seats in the 243-member assembly.