Amid claims of normalcy in the riots-hit Sasaram and Nalanda by the State Government, the simmering tension in the cities can also be felt in the political corridors at both the State and the national levels.
On the one hand, the State’s police and the administration are claiming that the situation is currently under control and both the towns are slowly returning towards normalcy; on the other hand, the opposition in the State, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has it’s all guns blazing on the state government on the issue of law and order.
Slamming Nitish Kumar’s Government, the newly elected BJP state’s chief, Samrat Chaudhary, has said that the Chief Minister seems to be an ailing who is not able to look after the affairs of the state; as soon as the violence broke out, we had demanded the deployment of the central forces to curb it, though the State Government turned down our demands, look now the central forces have to be sent there.
Earlier expressing his disappointment over the cancellation of the Union Home Minister’s rally in Sasaram, Chaudhary, while slamming the law and order situation in the state, had also said that “It’s pathetic that the Union Home Minister has to cancel his Sasaram’s rally, the Chief Minister is unable to run the state properly and the law and order situation in the state is deteriorating day by day.”
Meanwhile, another BJP leader and Member of Parliament from Sasaram, Chhedi Paswan, while raising doubt over the timing of the bomb blast that occurred near a mosque in Shah jumma muhalla under town thana limits on April 1, has demanded an NIA investigation into the case. As per the police, the blast occurred while making the bomb which has left at least five people injured, who are being treated at the moment, said police.
Speaking to the media, the Member of Parliament from the Sasaram Constituency said “that the administration should have gathered information about the purpose of making the bombs”. The BJP leader stated that “the Home minister rally was scheduled in the city, and the bombs are being made there, this need to be investigated, I will be writing to the home ministry for a NIA investigation in this matter”, added Paswan.
It should be noted that the State witnessed a wide scale of communal violence after a Rama Navami procession in Gagan Diwan Mohalla of Nalanda was attacked and pelted with stones on Friday, March 31, earlier a similar altercation also broke out in the Sasaram district on March 30 after a few men from the other community lit up a pandal near Gola Bazaar area following which heavy stone pelting was reported between the groups.
A total of 170 people from both districts have been arrested by the police so far for their alleged role in the violence in which a youth identified as Gulshan Kumar of Nalanda had also been shot, it is to be noted that a few media reports have earlier claimed that a number of people have been migrated to other places after arson and violence that had left many injured
However, the State Government, on the other hand has maintained that the law and order situation in the riots affected regions are under control and efforts are on to nab the culprits of the violence that triggered wide-scale destruction of public and private property,
It is to be noted that a large number of paramilitary personnel along with state police, are still patrolling the violence-hit regions of the State where the internet services are also being shut down.
