In more embarrassment to the Bihar government after two of its ministers drew flak for their unpalatable comments on the martyrdom of soldiers, the state policemen’s old rifles on Sunday failed to fire during a gun salute to iconic freedom struggle martyr Khudiram Bose on his 105th martyrdom day.
Bullets as old as over 25 years reportedly jammed in rifles just as old in the hands of policemen attending a government function in Muzaffarpur to commemorate the martyrdom of the Bengali revolutionary in this Bihar town on August 11, 1908. Bose, then just 18, was hanged to death by the British colonial rulers in Muzaffarpur, 70 km off Patna, for triggering a bomb explosion in the town that, having missed its target, killed a British lawyer, his wife and his daughter in April 1908.
As the Bihar policemen worked on their guns to fire the customary 21 rounds in the air as a mark of respect to the national revolutionary legend, not a single shot could be fired despite several attempts. The fiasco sent ripples of disbelief and shock among hundreds of local people and government officials gathered for the annual event.
Police officials said the old rifles had “very old bullets” in them. Bihar DGP Abhayanand is learnt to have sought a report from the Muzaffarpur district SP about the failure of the police guns to fire at a national icon’s memorial.