On the last day of the monsoon session, the BJP on Friday observed a ‘black day’ in the Bihar legislature by wearing black ribbons to protest against the lathi charge which resulted in the death of one of the party leaders.
BJP State president Samrat Choudhary and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha strongly condemned the lathi charge and staged a ‘Raj Bhavan March’ along with MLAs and MLCs.
They submitted a memorandum to the Governor and termed the lathi charge ‘dictatorship’ of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
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“Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is responsible for the death of BJP leader Vijay Singh. Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav should resign now. The way the police beaten up our workers and leaders, it clearly indicates a planned conspiracy to treat BJP leaders as terrorists and criminals. Even the manual says the police are supposed to hit any criminal below the knee but police lathi-charged on the upper parts of the body,” Mr. Choudhary said on the Assembly premises.
Asked about Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajeev Mishra denying that Mr. Singh was not injured in lathi charge, Mr. Sinha said, “Police are telling lies, before the postmortem how could he give such a statement. Police have manipulated the evidence of his death. We have identified all those police officers and once we will come to power, we will make sure that action is taken against them.”
Appeal to Governor
Later, the BJP delegation led by Mr. Choudhary, Mr. Sinha and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and urged him to take action against the lathi-charge incident.
RJD MLA Bhai Birendra supported the police action saying the police lathi-charged after BJP supporters and workers resorted to stone-pelting. He alleged that the Leader of the Opposition provoked the BJP workers to create a tense situation and they were the one responsible for the death of the BJP leader. He stressed that a case under IPC Section 302 should be lodged against Mr. Vijay Sinha.
Janata Dal (United) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh echoed the same saying the police resorted to lathi charge because BJP leaders spread chili powder on their face and body.
Meanwhile, BJP national President J.P. Nadda constituted a four-member committee to probe the lathi charge incident and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das will be the convener of the committee. The other members are Manoj Tiwari, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sunita Duggal. The committee will probe the incident and submit the report to Mr. Nadda.
Several BJP leaders, including Mr. Choudhary, attended the last rites of Mr. Singh. They alleged that the Bihar Chief Minister was responsible for the death.
When media personnel asked Mr. Kumar about the lathi charge, he shifted the question to other party leaders saying, “They will speak.”
Earlier in the day, when the Assembly proceedings started, a heated argument took place between the ruling and Opposition MLAs over the issue.
