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BJP defers Amit Shah’s visit to Sasaram in view of communal tension

Apr 01, 2023 02:16 PM IST

Amit Shah is scheduled to land in Patna on Saturday on a two-day tour of Bihar and later was scheduled for Sasaram on the same day to mark the birth anniversary of Samrat Ashok.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has deferred the proposed visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to Sasaram to take part in a function amid the reports of violence.

Union home minister Amit Shah (ANI Photo)
Union home minister Amit Shah (ANI Photo)

At least 14 people were injured in a clash that broke out between two groups following a Ram Navami procession on March 31. Amid the clashes, internet services were suspended and section 144 has been imposed in Nalanda and Sasaram.

Amit Shah is scheduled to land in Patna on Saturday on a two-day tour of Bihar and later was scheduled for Sasaram on the same day to mark the birth anniversary of Samrat Ashok. However, cancelling his Sasaram tour, BJP state president Samrat Chaudhary said that Shah will only address a meeting in Nawada.

“With regret, we have decided to postpone Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Sasaram as the district administration has promulgated Section 144 in Sasaram. Now, Shah will address a public meeting at Nawada only,” Chaudhary said.

“As per the information we have received, the Union home minister will arrive here on April 1. He will spend the night in Patna and leave for his scheduled programmes the next morning,” said Chaudhary.

Chaudhary blamed the state government for the violence and uncontrolled situation.

Also Read: Bihar Ram Navami violence: Internet shutdown, section 144 in Sasaram, Nalanda

“Bihar CM (chief minister) Nitish Kumar is not able to control the state. See what has happened in his home district Biharsharif. It seems that violence was fanned deliberately and this shows the failure of the government. He has given a message that he does not want to allow anybody else to hold meetings here,” Chaudhary alleged.

“The Bihar government is sleeping. We have to send Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai there,” he said.

Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai and minister of state and Buxar MP Ashwini Kumar Choubey reached Sasaram on Friday to take stock of the situation.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who is scheduled to arrive in Patna on Saturday evening will hold a meeting with intelligence and para-military officials, according to party leaders familiar with the development. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Bihar, will address a public meeting at Nawada on Sunday under the Lok Sabha Prawas programme.

The party has identified 160 seats all-over India, of which 10 are in Bihar under this programme.

Shah had earlier camped in the Seemanchal region last year with an eye on Muslim voters and later in October visited Sitab Diara the birthplace of socialist veteran late Jai Prakash Narayan. In February this year, he visited Valmakinagar and Patna the same day (Feb 25) and addressed Kisan Samagam organized on the occasion of the birth anniversary of peasant leader Sahajanand Saraswati in Patna, in a bid to woo the Bhumihar community that he came from.

His visit to Nawada and Sasaram is also seen as an effort by the BJP to break chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Luv-Kush equation. The Luv-Kush equation is used in a political context in Bihar to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which together constitute approximately 15% of the state’s population.

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