The minister was on his way to Motihari to attend PM Modi's rally. He never made it.
M I Khan reports from Patna.
A Union minister abused, insulted, manhandled and threatened.
Only in Nitish Kumar's Bihar, folks.
Upendra Kushwaha is the minister of state for human resources development in Narendra D Modi's ministry.
He leads the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party's ally in Bihar.
Kushwaha was on his way to attend the concluding ceremony of the Champaran Satyagraha's centenary celebrations in Motihari, where Prime Minister Modi addressed 20,000 'Swachhagrahis' (cleanliness ambassadors).
But the minister never made it to Motihari.
He was stopped by supporters of the Bharat Bandh -- called by various anti-reservation groups -- in Vaishali district and not allowed to proceed, the police said.
According to reports, Kushwaha was manhandled for supporting reservation.
"The protesters insulted Kushwaha, saying you have to stand on the road and we will not let you visit Motihari because you are a vocal champion of reservation," a police officer, who was assigned to Kushwaha's security detail, said.
"The police has begun an investigation into the incident and will take action against those found guilty," a district-level police officer said.
The RLSP condemned the incident and termed it as 'a shameful act to humiliate a Union minister belonging to the OBCs' (other backward classes) by those protesting against reservation.
While the bandh was a failure in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, violence was reported from various districts in Bihar, the police said.
Hundreds of mostly upper caste youth opposing reservations to SC/STs and OBCs blocked roads at several places, halted trains and forcibly closed markets in Patna, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Muzafffarpur, Bhojpur, Sheikhpura and Darbhanga districts.
The clashes came a day after the Union home ministry issued an advisory to all states to take precautionary measures in view of calls on social media for a bandh by anti-reservation groups to protest clashes during the April 2 Bharat bandh.
The April 2 bandh was called by Dalit groups against the 'dilution' of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.
It led to violence and arson in many parts of north India, claimed several lives, and left many injured.
The soft-spoken Kushwaha has repeatedly supported reservation for Dalits and OBCs. He is an OBC belonging to the Koeri caste, the largest social group after the Yadavs in Bihar.
Kushwaha is reportedly not comfortable with the BJP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's attitude towards the backward classes. In the past, he raised the issue of making caste-based census data public.
