If the pre-split politics in Bihar was marked by certain sincere efforts made by the NDA leadership to refurbish the image of the State, the situation has apparently changed now with the JD(U) splitting from the NDA, leaving an aggressive BJP to sharpen its attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Though more than 10 days have passed since the JD(U) snapped its ties with the BJP on June 16, the BJP maintains to keep the heat on the Nitish Government, presently under the party’s attack on the issue of police firing on Tharu tirbals, killing at least six members of the community.
The BJP only upped the ante against Kumar on Friday when the senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi asked Kumar to seek apology from the Tharu tribal community for the police firing against its members under Naurangia police station area in Bagha police district recently.
Spearheading the attack on the State Government, Modi and several other senior BJP leaders also sat on a day-long “Mahadharna” at Kargil Chowk in Patna to vent their ire against the State Government.
Modi also visited the Patna Medical College Hospital to meet seven youth injured in the Bagha police firing.
At the dharna site, he told mediapersons that the State Government is trying to implicate ordinary villagers on the flimsy ground with an objective to divert the attention from the police firing. He said that his party will launch a movement if villagers are harassed after the brutal firing. “The Nitish Government will have to pay the price for the Bagha police firing if it fails to take stern action against the guilty police personnel.”
He said that the Government should also give a compensation of Rs10 lakh instead of only Rs4 lakh to each family which lost its members. He alleged that the Government is trying to hush up the matter by adopting its own tactics.
Understanding the mood of belligerent BJP leaders, the CM convened a meeting of the JD(U)’s core group to assess the post-split situation in more details and also discuss ways to counter a formidable Opposition in the form of BJP.
The JD(U) office-bearers including State party president Vashishtha Narayan Singh attended the meeting and it is understood that besides other issues, leaders also discussed the party’s future relationship with the Congress and expansion of the State Cabinet at the meeting.
Govt orders judicial probe
The Bihar Government has ordered a judicial probe into the Bagha police firing, which claimed lives of six youth last Monday.
State Principal Secretary (Home) Amir Subhani said the State Government will constitute a judicial commission to inquire into the incident which resulted in the death of Tharu tribals and injuries to at least 21 other people and 25 police personnel. The commission would be headed by a sitting or a retired judge of Patna High Court and the State Home Department has already made a request to the High Court to propose a name for the purpose.