Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD on Sunday began an ambitious movement to regain its lost support base among the state’s Muslims with party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav setting out for the “Forbesganj Yatra” to protest against the death of Muslims in the June 3 police firing.
Accompanied by hundreds of RJD workers and several leaders, Mr Yadav left Patna in a convoy of about 50 cars for the north Bihar town, where the RJD has planned to hold a public meeting on Monday to “seek justice for Bihar’s Muslims and expose the state government”. Such new-found pro-Muslim assertiveness in Mr Yadav, who was for long known as “Muslims’ messiah” and kept winning elections with the support of Muslims, brought out sharp criticism from the ruling JD(U).
“The Nitish government has cheated Bihar’s Muslims. It has put in cold storage the issue of the murder of Muslims in the name of the judicial probe. No action has been taken against the police officers responsible for this incident,” said Mr Yadav before leaving for the march, which is considered to be a strategic, early move by the RJD to win the hearts of Bihar’s 1.36 crore Muslims ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Firing by policemen on a large, protesting group of poor Muslims at Bhajanpur village near Forbesganj on June 3 had led to the death of four people — including an infant and a pregnant woman — and left nine people injured. Subsequent, videotaped revelations of a policeman insanely kicking and repeatedly crushing underfoot a bullet-hit Muslim teenager lying immobile but alive on the ground in the presence of uniformed officials, including the Araria SP, had indicated the extent of police brutality. That teenager died later.
Chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar shrugged off Mr Yadav’s “Forbesganj march” as a belated one and said such steps were aimed at disturbing Bihar’s communal harmony. “What other task does he (Yadav) have in hand? This move is so delayed. He (Yadav) woke up very late,” said Mr Kumar.
A judicial commission appointed by the Bihar’s JD(U)-BJP government and headed by retired high court judge Madhavendra Sharan is probing the circumstances leading to the firing. The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairman Wajahat Habibullah, after visiting the site, had described the deaths as a “national loss” and said the police firing was “totally unjustified”.