Patna protests: BJP team meets Governor, seeks CBI probe into police action

PATNA A Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation on Friday called on Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at the Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum, demanding an inquiry by a sitting Patna High Court judge or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the “unprovoked police lathi-charge” during party’s Thursday protest march in state capital Patna.

The memorandum said the “lathicharge was done at the behest of chief minister Nitish Kumar, who also holds the home portfolio, and deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, which is bad for a healthy democracy”.

BJP leaders described the turn of events as “unprecedented” and said the entire government machinery, including officials, was desperately trying to paint the death of a BJP leader as normal through contradictory statements.

State BJP president Samrat Choudhary, leader of Opposition in assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha, MLAs Nand Kishore Yadav and Prem Kumar, besides several other legislators and leaders, were part of the BJP delegation.

Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi also accompanied the BJP delegation.

“The march was planned a long time back to demand the resignation of charge-sheeted deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and corner the government for backtracking from promise of 10 lakh jobs and government employee status to school teachers, but the government murdered democracy and insulted the Constitution by ordering lathi-charge. There is administrative anarchy in the state, with a rising crime graph and open sale of liquor despite prohibition. Sand mining mafia is thriving due to the government patronage, while rampant corruption affects one and all,” said the memorandum.

According to the memorandum, there was “unprovoked lathi-charge on the procession comprising MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other senior leaders and party workers when it reached Dak Bungalow and many of them are admitted to hospitals with serious injuries”.

“The brutality on a peaceful pre-announced political demonstration, which caused death of one leader and left several injured, has been seen by all. It was pre-planned for the way even senior leaders and MPs/MLAs were also targeted. Our central leadership is also sending a team to Patna,” said Choudhary.

BJP forms 4-member probe panel

Meanwhile, BJP president JP Nadda has set up a four-member committee of party leaders, which would visit Patna soon to investigate the lathi-charge incident, according to a statement issued by the party’s national general secretary Arun Singh.

The members of the committee include former Jharkhand CM Raghunath Das and MPs Manoj Tiwary, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sunita Duggal. The team would submit its report to Nadda.

“Nadda also expressed his pain over the death of a BJP leader, Vijay Kumar Singh, and injury to several senior leaders and party workers. The lathi-charge on BJP workers has been taken very seriously,” said state BJP president Samrat Choudhary.

Later, BJP leaders assembled at Dak Bungalow intersection in Patna and burnt effigies of the chief minister and raised slogans as part of party’s statewide “black day” protests against lathi-charge incident.

Meanwhile, ruling Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh justified the police lathi-charge on BJP workers, saying they were “provoked”, and slammed BJP for spreading rumours on the death of Vijay Singh.

“Vijay Singh did not reach the (protest) venue. Then how could he die in the lathi-charge?” he told reporters.

He also shared a video clip, purportedly of one Bharat Prasad Chandravansi, who had accompanied Vijay Singh from his native place Jehanabad to Patna. “We were on the way to the venue when a stampede-like situation occurred after the lathi-charge and he fell down. Due to this, he might have sustained injuries on his head. We took him to Tara hospital where he was put on the ventilator machine, but he was not responding. Then an ambulance came and we went to PMCH,” the man says in the video.

JD-U spokesman Rajib Ranjan said BJP is trying to exploit the demise of their own party leader. “There is no hint that the BJP leader died due to lathi-charge. Those who were there have also corroborated it, but BJP is not ready to accept it and wants to exploit even death of its worker,” he said.