Ram Navami violence: BJP, AIMIM teams stopped from visiting hot spots

BJP leaders visiting Sasaram and Bihar Sharif, the two towns in Bihar where communal clashes had broken out in the wake of recent Ram Navami festivities a week back, on Thursday alleged they were prevented by district officials from visiting sensitive areas .

According to leader of opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha, who led an 11-member BJP team to Bihar Sharif, they were stopped from visiting the house of one Gulshan, who had died of bullet wounds sustained during the violence. Senior officials told him at the circuit house (where he was staying) that prohibitory orders were still in force and they could not be allowed to visit the locality. “I asked them to take me alone to those areas with them, but they did not agree. Later, on my request, Gulshan’s family members were brought to the circuit house, where they narrated the turn of events before us,” Sinha said.

Sinha reiterated his demand for a judicial probe into the violent incidents under a sitting Patna High Court judge and alleged that attempts were being made to suppress facts. “The Grand Alliance leaders can take out harmony march, but we are being stopped from going there. When (CM) Nitish Kumar cannot even control his home district, how can he manage the entire state? After such incidents, he should tender resignation on moral grounds,” he told reporters assembled at the circuit house.

Another BJP team, comprising former deputy CMs Tarkishor Prasad and Renu Devi, and other legislators, went to Sasaram in Rohtas district, but were allegedly stopped at Bikramganj from entering the town of Sasaram, where mobile internet services remain suspended.

A team of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by its state unit chief and legislator Akhtarul Islam, was also stopped in Bihar Sharif. “I wanted to come on April 4 and contacted the district magistrate. He advised me not to visit, saying the situation was not fully under control. However, in the evening, other political party leaders joined his harmony march. Today, I contacted him to inform I was coming, but he sent police to stop me. The administration is acting at the behest of the government and participating in politics. It is sad,” he said.

Ruling JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar said BJP leaders should first try to serve bail bond for their supporters arrested on the basis of CCTV footages. “Police have acted impartially and arrests have been made irrespective of religious affiliation on the basis of evidence. Why did it take so long for the BJP to visit there when the situation is being brought to normal? They should have visited it the day the home minister was in Nawada, as the distance is barely 50 kms from there,” he said.

Though no fresh incident has been reported from the two towns, they have remained on the edge amid heavy deployment of police and security forces.