Patna: Police action against those who have been involved in inciting communal violence seems to have offended the BJP which is one of the coalition partners in the ruling alliance in Bihar.
According to BJP leaders, a party delegation met the Director General of Police and submitted a memorandum demanding action against officials who targeted only people belonging to majority community during the communal violence in several districts of the state.
“It was a one-sided action. People from the majority community were arrested by the police on charges of stoking communal violence but the fact is that there was provocation from the minority community side”, BJP MLA Sanjiv Chaurasia who was part of the delegation told this newspaper on Saturday.
Two BJP leaders Dinesh Jha and Mohan Patwa were arrested from Rosera town of Samastipur district on March 29.
The public display of aggression against the state administration by BJP leaders in Bihar has snowballed into a political controversy.
“Nitish Kumar is facing difficulty in coping with BJP’s aggressive Hindutva agenda. Nothing is right in the ruling alliance anymore as BJP has started raising questions about the decisions which is being taken by the state government”. RJD MLA Bhai Birendra said. Observers said that the recent accusations came after chief minister Nitish Kumar publicly expressed his displeasure over series of comments made by BJP leaders and recent incidents of communal violence in the state.
BJP leaders said that scores of district-level leaders were arrested by the police on the charges of disturbing communal harmony in at least seven districts during the Ram Navami procession. “Our demand is that all innocent people who have arrested on charges of stoking communal violence should be released without further delay," BJP MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia said.
The BJP leaders excluding deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi camp have also been complaining about the police role in a crackdown against Union Minister Ashwini Choubey’s son Arijit Shaswat who had surrendered in Patna after a court had dismissed his bail petition last week.
