Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s ongoing Seva Ya-tra tour of Bihar has been accompanied by public protests virtually at every event on its route since it began with hype and hope 10 days ago. The protests have left the ruling JD(U) wary and introspective.
Two Opposition politicians and hundreds of their supporters were arrested during Mr Kumar’s tour in the southern Kaimur district for taking part in large processions protesting the “sheer wastage of public money” in the Seva Yatra. CPI(ML)’s Kaimur district secretary Vijay Yadav was arrested on Sunday while leading the leftist party’s Nyaya Yatra and former RJD legislator Ramachandra Yadav was arrested on Saturday for opposing huge expenses made for raising security barricades in Bhabua town.
Unlike his earlier statewide tours, Mr Kumar’s current one has been conspicuous for the security scare surrounding it with thousands of policemen pressed to this single event and the questionable methods used by officials for security check. At Kaimur’s Patel College grounds, where Mr Kumar held a public grievance hearing programme on Saturday, his security staff took away the mobile phones and pens of thousands of visitors who came with written petitions. The pens and mobile phones were then dumped at a corner of the programme site, enraging many people.
Mr Kumar ended his three-day tour of Kaimur on Sunday with inauguration of several development projects, laying the foundation stones for others and holding a meeting with top local officials to discuss the local development agenda. There were allegations from various quarters that only a selected section of the people were allowed to meet the CM with their complaints and others were deliberately prevented.
During the preceding four-day tour of the northern East Champaran district, which Mr Kumar ended on April 23, recurrent public protests dominated his interactions with the people.