A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) handed over a memorandum to Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Monday seeking a judicial inquiry into the communal violence in Sasaram and Biharsharif during the Ram Navami procession on March 31.
The delegation was led by party’s State president Samrat Choudhary and Opposition leader Vijay Kumar Sinha
The BJP leaders urged the Governor to announce a high-level inquiry and constitute a committee under the chairmanship of a judge of the Patna High Court. They said the judicial inquiry would expose those who protected terrorist organisations such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Bihar.
“Despite the organising committee taking permission from the district administration for the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra procession, action was taken against the coordinator of the Bajrang Dal in Nalanda and former BJP MLA Jawahar Prasad in Sasaram. They have been arrested and put in jail without any reason. In fact, our leader Jawahar ji informed the district administration that PFI workers were spreading riots, but the local administration and the government sent him to jail,” Mr. Choudhary said after meeting the Governor.
In the memorandum, the BJP alleged that communal violence broke out in both areas due to the failure of the administration as adequate force was not deployed at the time of the procession. The party alleged that the police targeted Hindus keeping politics of appeasement in mind. The BJP leaders further claimed that PFI members threw stones at a mosque but no action was taken against them by the district administration.
‘Innocents arrested’
“BJP coordinator Kundan Kumar was arrested by the police on false grounds. When the police entered his house, they spoke roughly to his wife and also looted the jewellery kept for the marriage of his sister. Several arrested people were forced to take the names of innocent people in front of the camera. Such interrogation happens in the presence of the judicial magistrate,“ the memorandum says.
The delegation comprised former Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi; former Ministers Nand Kishore Yadav and Dr. Prem Kumar; former Bihar Legislative Council chairman Awadhesh Narayan Singh; Chief Whip of the Opposition in the Assembly Janak Singh; MLCs Naval Kishore Yadav and Nivedita Singh.
Mr. Choudhary and Mr. Sinha held Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responsible for the communal violence. Mr. Choudhary alleged that the Nitish government wanted communal violence so that the rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah scheduled for April 2 would get cancelled.
Defending the government, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Shakti Yadav said: “The government always takes action against those who violate the law. In Bihar, rule of law exists. The BJP is the one who protects the violators.”
