Patna, (Samajweekly) Two separate teams of the BJP, heading towards riot-affected areas, were stopped by district administrations of Rohtas and Bihar Sharif on Thursday.
The officials said the visit of saffron leaders to the area could provoke people, and hence they were stopped at the Bikramganj border and the Bihar Sharif circuit house.
A team of 15 leaders headed by former Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were stopped at Bikramganj border of Rohtas and Bhojpur district on Thursday afternoon.
Bikramganj SDM Upendra Pal, along with a large number of police force, was present at the border. When the BJP leaders reached the Bikramganj border, they were told that law and order could get disturbed if they would visit the riot-affected areas.
The BJP leaders strongly protested at the place for a few minutes. Eventually, they agreed on returning to Patna after District Magistrate Dharmendra Kumar spoke to Prasad over the phone of the SDM.
“We were going to meet the victim families of Sasaram but the district administration stopped us at the Bikramganj border. It is extremely unfortunate that the state government is trying to hide its failure. If the state government would have been alert during Ram Navami, the riot would not have happened. The Nitish Kumar government has completely failed,” Prasad said.
“The state government is taking one-sided action. Who is that person where the bomb was exploded? The Nitish Kumar government is targeting a nationalist party (BJP) and an organization (RSS). The state government was claiming that Section 144 was not imposed in Sasaram and the officials were seen alerting people through loudspeakers. The state government is just telling lies,” said Renu Devi.
Another team of the BJP headed by Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha went to Bihar Sharif but the district administration did not allow them to go beyond circuit house.
Apart from Sinha, Warsaliganj MLA Aruna Devi, Katoria MLA Nikki Hembram, Lal Ganj MLA Sanjay Sinha, Barh MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, Narkatiaganj MLA RAshmi Verma and Darbhanga MLA Sanjay Sarawgi were in the team of BJP.
“In the last couple of days, the leaders of ruling parties have been participating in the Sadbhavana march but when the leader of the opposition party came to Bihar Sharif, the district administration stopped us. The riot happened due to the failure of the state government. If the state government has not done anything wrong then, why are they against an NIA investigation,” Sinha said.
