Two shutdowns in Bihar on citizenship were only political ploy

Patna Dec 22 (HS): Bihar underwent two back to back shutdowns on the same issue. First on Thursday when there was call for Bihar bandh by the Left parties which was supported by almost all the opposition parties. The RJD  also symbolically participated in it but decided to give a separate call for bandh on Saturday which again was participated by the opposition.

On Thursday shutdown was part of the nationwide bandh call given by Left parties. But in Bihar the Lalu Prasad’s party RJD was not satisfied with that call and being the biggest party in Bihar, it preferred to call for statewide  shutdown on Saturday too, so that the party should not be seen as playing second fiddle to any other party.

If on Thursday no leader of RJD was seen hitting the streets, on Saturday Tejashwi Prasad Yadav ensured that no leader of any other party was allowed near him. He came to the Dak Bungalow roundabout escorted by senior leaders of his party, addressed the crowd and left. He did not bother about the leaders of maha gathbandhan like Congress, RLSP, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) who were sitting at a close distance and trying to seek Yadav’s attention. The RJD leader did not even mention any of them nor thanked the allies for their participation in the bandh.

The people of Bihar were now annoyed and sought reason behind two consecutively bandh in the State on the same CAA and NRC issues. “Both the bandhs were quite effective and successful but there was absolutely no need for giving separate calls for bandhs on two days,” said Umeshwar Prasad who runs a general store on Ashok Raj Path. He went on to say further, “Tejashwi thought that in the first bandh call he was not the leading person and he did not just want to follow the Left parties so he preferred to give separate call for bandh on the similar issue. This only shows his immaturity and arrogance.”

In view of the sporadic incidents of violence, arson, stoppage of trains and other vehicular movement and also the selective attack on some media people in Patna by the bandh supporters and RJD workers, the ruling allies BJP and JD(U) came down heavily on the main opposition party saying their bandh only reminded the people of the jungle raj of RJD regime.

Bihar JD(U) spokesman Sanjay Singh said common people were assaulted brutally by the bandh enforcers and they were not allowed to move even on foot. He said, “The bandh footage only reminded the people of the jungle raj during the regime of Tejashwi’s parents.”

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi termed Bihar bandh nothing by sheer goonda-ism. The RJD men armed with petrol, match box and oiled lathis went on rampage. Their protest was only a political goonda-ism which reminded common people of the jungle raj era which Bihar underwent 15 years back. Modi said the bandh was not aimed to protest against the citizenship issue but to refresh the political ambitions of the RJD.