With a Bihar town put under curfew after a communal clash caused tension and similar communal clashes having taken place in two other towns, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday obliquely blamed the main Opposition party BJP for the “environment of intolerance” and vowed to quell such efforts.
Even as he appealed all political parties to help foster greater social harmony and stay away from politicising the communal clashes at Nawada, Bettiah and Bagaha, Mr Kumar said “some political elements” were trying to harness political benefits from the communal clashes. Although Kumar did not name the BJP, the party with which his JD(U) ruled in Bihar for over seven years before they split in June, JD(U) leaders and political analysts said he indirectly accused the BJP of disturbing social harmony in the state.
“There seems to be an effort to create an environment of intolerance in Bihar, but we will deal with it strongly. I have directed chief secretary A.K. Sinha and state police chief Abhayanand to tackle the situation firmly,” said Mr Kumar to reporters after the “Janata Durbar” programme at his residence in Patna. “Nobody will be allowed to arouse communal passion for political benefits,” he said, adding, “This is not the time for politicising such incidents”.
In Nawada, a southern town 150 km from Patna, curfew was imposed as fresh tension erupted three days after violent clashes took place between two communities and led to policemen firing at a mob, in which one youth was killed. Another man was killed during Sunday night’s clashes there. Police sources said the communal clashes originated on Friday following a heated argument between a group of kanwarias (Hindu pilgrims) and another community at a roadside eatery in Nawada.
Armed jawans of RAF and Bihar’s SAP were deployed in Nawada even as incidents of clashes, arson, stone pelting and bomb explosion were reported and six people were seriously injured, said Nawada SP M.S. Dhillon. An assistant sub-inspector of police was suspended on charges of dereliction of duty, he said.