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New Delhi, 3 June 2012: Seldom in our recent memory have we seen a funeral procession indulge in such indiscriminate acts of vandalism and arson as Ranvir Sena men participating in the funeral procession of Barmeswar Singh did in Ara, Patna and elsewhere in Bihar on June 1-2. This has once again exposed the true character of the Sena which had shamed Bihar and the entire humanity earlier by perpetrating dozens of brutal and barbaric massacres in various districts of Shahabad and Magadh zone. |
The vandalism witnessed right in the state capital of Patna has given a complete lie to Nitish Kumar’s tall claims of good governance. If anything, it has exposed the utter inability or even refusal of his government to tackle such acts of feudal-criminal violence. Contrast the state’s laid-back attitude on June 1-2 to the brutal ways the police have been tackling mass protests, and the inherent bias of the state government and its police administration becomes crystal-clear.
Exactly a year ago, Bihar police had killed four innocent Muslims in Bhajanpur village near Farbesganj of Araria district who were protesting against state-led encroachment on the traditional road connecting their village to the nearest highway. Just a month ago, the police in Aurangabad staged a brutal crackdown on people demanding a CBI probe into the killing of mukhiya Devendra Kushwaha in Haspura block of the district. Comrade Rajaram Singh, CPI(ML) Central Committee member and two-term MLA from Obra (1995-2005) was abused and beaten up by the SP himself and is till date in jail along with 28 other protestors including two mukhiyas and one member of district council.
The growing imprint of the BJP variety of politics and governance in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar cannot be ignored any more. However much Nitish Kumar may like to distance the Bihar NDA from Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, the attitude of the top brass in Bihar on June 1-2 was remarkably similar to that in Modi’s Gujarat in the wake of the Godhra incident. The Bihar government too perhaps believes that some chosen people should have the special privilege to give vent to their ire in whichever way they want while every legitimate protest and movement of the people should be crushed by all means.
The CPI(ML) appeals to the people of Bihar to stay united and vigilant and rebuff any attempt by miscreants and feudal-criminal forces to vitiate the atmosphere and gag the democratic voice. In view of the tense situation and the state’s refusal to provide security to the people, the CPI(ML) withdrew the indefinite fasts launched by Party leaders simultaneously in three centres on and from 26 May – Comrades Arun Singh in Patna, Sudama Prasad at Ara and Anwar Hussein at Daudnagar, Aurangabad – on 2 June, but the movement for justice will continue unabated.
On the first anniversary of Farbesganj firing, the CPI(ML) reiterates the demand for a CBI probe into the incident and stern action against the guilty members of the police. The CPI(ML) also insists on unconditional release of Comrade Rajaram Singh and other protestors now jailed in Aurangabad and action against the SP and DM of Aurangabad district. Nitish Kumar and his administration owe an apology to the people of Bihar for the vandalism that was allowed to be staged in Patna on June 2.
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