PATNA: The Mahagathbandhan leaders held a joint press conference on Wednesday and slammed the state government over the alleged
police firing and violence in Munger during an idol immersion event in which a 22-year-old man was killed and several others injured.
RJD leader and the opposition CM face, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, as well as LJP chief Chirag Paswan, compared the alleged firing on people carrying Goddess
Durga’s idol for immersion with that of the “firing by General Dyer” in Jallianwala Bagh. “Who permitted them to open fire? Who permitted them to become General Dyer? The incident occurred right under the noses of chief minister
Nitish Kumar, who is also the home minister and deputy CM
Sushil Kumar Modi, who does nothing, but tweets,” said Tejashwi.
In a separate statement, Chirag echoed a similar view saying, “Who is responsible for the firing and lathi-charge incident in Munger? Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is now playing the role of General Dyer who ordered the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre. I am sure CM is responsible for the incident, and there should be an investigation.” Earlier on Tuesday, he had dubbed the Nitish government as a “Talibani regime” for firing at people and demanded sacking of the Munger SP in a tweet.
The grand alliance leaders gathered for the press meet, including Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, not only demanded the removal of the Munger SP and DM but also sought a probe under the supervision of Patna high court.
Talking about the video clips of the incident, which took place on Monday evening, Tejashwi said, “The video clips are horrifying and heart-wrenching. We condemn such acts. No one could understand why police suddenly started thrashing people who were sitting quietly during the immersion.”
AICC general secretary Surjewala dubbed CM Nitish as ‘Nirday Kumar’ and deputy CM Sushil Modi as ‘Nirmam Modi’. “Today PM Narendra Modi is in Bihar. If any self-respect is left, then he should dismiss this government,” said Surjewala.
CPI-ML politburo member Kavita Krishnan criticized the police for the violence. “They could have talked to people instead of lathi-charge and firing. This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred in Bihar,” said Kavita citing 2011 incident of Forbesganj firing . CPM leader Awadhesh Kumar said people will express their anger over this incident in the Bihar election.
Asked about the accusations made by the Mahagathbandhan leaders, BJP state general secretary Devesh Kumar said Tejashwi and Surjewala should know the model code of conduct is in force in Bihar and decision regarding transfer of officials will be taken by the Election Commission.
“Deputy CM Sushil Modi has also already tweeted to EC to take cognizance of the incident,” said Devesh, adding, “This incident is unfortunate and sad, but an attempt to politicize this issue is equally condemnable.”