Even as Bihar’s Opposition parties on Saturday accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of having imposed an “undeclared emergency-like situation” in districts he is touring, Mr Kumar professed his complete respect for the people’s democratic rights and condemned the violent protests.
Angry about the police taking into preventive custody supporters from various Opposition parties in Supaul and Araria districts on Friday to ensure peace at Mr Kumar’s public meetings on Saturday, senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Leader of the Opposition in Assembly, excoriated the JD(U)-BJP government for curtailing the common people’s freedoms. Leaders of other Opposition parties such as the LJP, Congress and CPI(ML) also condemned the police action.
Over 1,500 supporters of the Opposition parties, including 925 from the RJD, were reportedly taken into preventive custody and security around Kumar was heightened during his visit to Araria and Supaul on Saturday.
“While the series of protests the CM’s public meetings have witnessed are all spontaneous expression of public frustration, the government is targeting the Opposition parties. An undeclared emergency-like situation now prevails in many parts of Bihar,” said Siddique to journalists. CPI(ML) politburo member Ramjatan Sharma said supporters of his party were picked up in the night. “Such repressive tactics will only result in a rise in public anger against this failed government,” he said. Despite growing demands for the arrest of Ranvir Yadav, the JD(U) MLA’s husband who brandished a cop’s carbine threateningly at the protesters at Khagaria, no action was taken so far. “By allowing such people as Yadav to act this way, this government shows it has lost all faith in the police and the law. The government can now appoint Yadav the state DGP by changing the appointment rules,” said Siddiqui.
In Khagaria, 36 people were arrested for Thursday’s violent protests and raids were being conducted to arrest 73 others named accused while nearly 300 people were made unnamed accused. DGP Abhayanand said the police acted “with patience and wisdom” during those violent protests, which would now be probed by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by SP Sheo Kumar Jha.