Tensions flared on MG Road (Gandhi Marg) on Wednesday as hundreds of activists from the Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) and Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) staged a massive demonstration, attempting to gherao the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
The protesters were demanding the immediate resignation of School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over widespread errors and discrepancies discovered in newly distributed school textbooks.
On the second day of their agitation, BJD youth workers marched aggressively toward the Assembly premises, shouting slogans against the state government. The situation escalated when protesters attempted to scale security barricades erected near the Legislative Assembly. This led to heated arguments and violent scuffles between the police personnel and party workers.
To restore order, police detained several top leaders and hundreds of party workers. Among those taken into custody were sitting MLAs, former ministers, and senior leaders of the Biju Janata Dal.
The opposition BJD has held Minister Nityananda Gond morally responsible for the administrative negligence that led to factual and printing errors in school textbooks, affecting students across the state. In addition to demanding the minister’s immediate resignation, the party urged the government to recall the flawed books and swiftly distribute error-free, revised textbooks to students without delay.
Owing to the influx of party workers from various districts across Odisha, security measures around the Legislative Assembly have been intensified significantly. Authorities have deployed a three-tier security setup along with extensive police forces to prevent further breakdown of law and order in the capital.
