In an open show of double standards, a JD(U) minister in Bihar on Thursday publicly praised a leader whose brutal assault on a youth in July had prompted chief minister Nitish Kumar to suspend him from the party for six years and order his arrest.
Rural works minister Brishen Patel, addressing a government programme organised to inaugurate a pond beautification project near Hajipur, lavishly praised Shambu Sharan Rai, the JD(U)’s Vaishali district secretary, who is facing trial for mercilessly beating up local youth Rajesh Mahto, about 22, for an hour-and-half at a village panchayat. Rai was released from jail on bail on August 19.
“I and Shambhu have friendly relations for centuries...,” said Mr Patel as Shambu Rai sat smiling beside him on the dais.
“Small mistakes must be forgiven immediately. I go to the temple and I also go to the mosque, but in order that I do not become God myself, I deliberately commit small sins,” the minister, who was enthusiastically garlanded by Shambu Sharan Rai, said.
Shambu Rai’s brutal attacks on the defenceless youth had shocked whole Bihar on July 26.
The JD(U) leader, husband of Mansurpur Haleya panchayat mukhiya Sangita Devi, had hung him upside down from a horizontally placed bamboo supported on the shoulders of two other men. The whole act was captured in mobile phone camera and flashed on Bihar’s local TV news channels.
Following Nitish Kumar’s orders, the police sought to arrest Shambu Rai, who surrendered after absconding for a day.