AIMIM team barred from entering Biharsharif

PATNA: A delegation of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) was on Thursday stopped from entering Biharsharif town in Nalanda, the home district of CM Nitish Kumar from where communal tensions were reported early this week. The development, coming a day after Nitish terming party's national chief Asaduddin Owaisi as a "BJP agent", triggered strong protests from the political outfit primarily based in Hyderabad.
AIMIM sources said a delegation of party leaders headed by state president Akhtarul Iman was on way to the Biharsharif to visit the trouble-torn areas and make an appeal for peace when they were stopped on the border. Angry at being stopped, the team had a heated exchange of words with the officials from Nalanda district administration, but that failed to cut any ice as they eventually returned empty-handed.
"We had left for the spot after obtaining formal permission from the DM as we wanted to meet the victims of violences, make an appeal for communal harmony and see for ourselves if any compensation was given to them. However, we were prevented from entering inside the border of Nalanda while there were no such barriers on other parties," Iman told TOI over phone on Thursday.
Stating that they planned to digitize thousands of religious books which were reduced to ashes in a fire that engulfed Madarsa Azizia during the communal frenzy, Iman said they would meet the CM and even the governor if their grievances were not redressed.
Nalanda district magistrate Shashank Shubhankar said the AIMIM delegation was stopped from entering Nalanda since the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC are in force.
"We requested them to visit other places in the district and meet the people, but they were adamant on visiting only the affected areas. We are not allowing anyone to go there," the DM told TOI over the phone.
The AIMIM also hit back at the CM for describing Owaisi as a "BJP agent" and suggested the latter to better look within before making any comment. "The fact is that it was during Nitish's tenure as the Union railway minister that the Godhra communal violence in Gujarat had taken place. Again, it was Nitish who remained in alliance with the BJP for 20-22 years, supported the BJP over NRC and abrogation of Article 370 and whose party leader Harivansh Narayan Singh still happens to be the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha," Iman told mediapersons on Thursday.
Launching frontal attacks on Nitish, Owaisi said he only raised a few questions before the latter about the communal flare-ups, but the CM reacted very bitterly and called him a "BJP agent".
"The one who strengthened the BJP in Bihar is pointing fingers at us. Hindutva crimes against Muslims are on the rise in Bihar, but uncle-nephew company is thinking that iftar party will get the job done," Owaisi tweeted, referring to the Nitish Kumar-Tejashwi Yadav partnership in the government.