Nitish scripted riots in Sasaram to cancel Shah’s visit: Bihar BJP chief

Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary on Wednesday accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of orchestrating riots in Sasaram town in the wake of Ram Navami celebrations to cancel the visit of union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah.

Addressing a sit-in at Sasaram on Wednesday in protest against the arrest of former MLA Jawahar Prasad in connection with communal clashes during Ram Navami procession, Choudhary said the government did not take out police and paramilitary flag march to ensure peace during processions despite pleas by his party.

Jawahar Prasad, who has been elected MLA five times from Sasaram, was arrested earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Choudhary, riding a bicycle, went to meet Prasad in divisional jail at Sasaram but was not allowed in.

Jail superintendent Rakesh Kumar said the jail manual allowed one meeting in a week and someone had already met Prasad on Monday.

Lashing out at Nitish Kumar, Choudhary said, “He (Kumar) is suffering from memory loss like we saw in the film Ghajini. With no cadre, no vote and no party left, Nitish Kumar has lost his political existence in the state. His departure time is fixed. I will ensure all the JD-U leaders and workers join BJP before the 2025 elections in the state.”

Choudhary said the state government was upset ever since BJP agitated and finally freed the stone scripture of Mauryan ruler Ashoka at Sasaram from over decade-long illegal captivity, referring to alleged encroachment by local Muslims of the site near Sasaram town which was cleared a few months ago.

Keeping up his attack at the chief minister, the state BJP president said, “There were 987 liquor shops in Bihar when Nitish Kumar became the CM in 2005, but the number increased to more than 11,000 when he declared liquor ban in 2016. Kumar opened liquor shops in every gram panchayat and made people liquor addicts. Now, its home delivery is available at the door. A big scam is flourishing in Bihar and chief minister Nitish Kumar and his party are hand in glove with the liquor mafia and officers, earning more than ₹10,000 crore for the JD-U.”

Choudhary said all the places named after Mughals in Bihar would be renamed after Indians once a BJP government is formed in the state.

Sasaram MP Chhedi Paswan, state BJP vice-president Pramod Chandravanshi, MLCs Nivedita Singh and Santosh Kumar Singh were among those present at the sit-in.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United were the major constituents of the ruling alliance in Bihar till August 10 last year when Kumar dumped the BJP and aligned with Lalu Prasad’s RJD, Congress and other parties to form a new government.

Meanwhile, JD(U) MLC and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar countered Choudhary’s claim that JD(U) workers would join BJP en masse in coming days. “Nobody from our party is going to join the BJP and they never will. Who will go to BJP which has not conferred Bharat Ratna to former chief minister Karpoori Thakur and also insulted many political veterans,” said Kumar.