all calm down: Uma Bharti shares a lighter moment with Sushil Kumar Modi at a news meet in Patna. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Sept. 7: It was a mayhem firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti had never expected? that too at the railway station ? on her first visit to the Bihar capital after the Assembly elections were announced.

As part of it all, BJP workers clashed with members of the Chandravanshi samaj, a caste group representing Kahars, the traditional palanquin-bearers now involved in agriculture and related vocations.

The free-for-all lasted almost an hour, leaving many bruised and beaten with the clashes extending up to a distance of 100 metres from the station?s porch.

The provocation, according to Chandravanshi samaj leader Rambali Singh, was Uma?s alleged statement a few months ago when she vowed to ?split to death the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress as Bhima did to Jarasandha?. Singh, earlier a member of the BJP, is now with the RJD.

Uma later said she did not remember making any such statement and if, at all, any of her words had ever hurt members of the Chandravanshi samaj, she was sorry for that. ?I want to end this matter here and now,? the BJP?S second-in-command for Bihar said.

Kahars in Bihar claim their descent from Jarasandha, the king of Magadh, with his capital at Rajgriha (now Rajgir). Legend has it that Jarasandha was a staunch opponent of Krishna and he unsuccessfully attacked the Yaduvanshi capital of Mathura 18 times.

Bhima clashed with Jarasandha in the presence of Krishna and Arjuna at Rajgriha. The fight went on for 14 days with neither conceding defeat. Finally, it was Krishna who signalled to Bhima to split the Magadh king, a devotee of Shiva, into two as that was the only way to his death. According to legend, Jarasandha was born in two parts to the two wives of Magadh king Brihadratha.

A witness said as soon as Uma, who arrived in Patna by the Howrah-Danapur Express around 8 am, came out of the station, members of the Chandravanshi samaj started to wave black flags, shouting slogans against the ?insult? caused to Jarasandha.

?Tempers ran high and some of the protesters removed the flags from the sticks and began the clash. A good number of BJP workers had come to receive their leader. They, too, began to fight with the protesters. People on both sides were kicked and beaten up,? he said.

Singh said, ?She has insulted Jarasandha and, therefore, the entire Chandravanshi samaj. More than a dozen of our samaj members have been injured. We will burn her effigy here tomorrow and take the struggle to the entire state.?

Uma said she, too, comes from the Chandravanshi samaj and it was unthinkable for her to attack any social group, least of all the Chadravanshis. ?I do not understand the linkages but it is definitely an attempt by the RJD to foment caste tension by raising insignificant issues,? she said.

?Bihar has to be taken out of such limited issues based in caste and religion. The NDA is trying to do just that. Laloo Prasad is known to talk of the Muslim-Yadav equations of eliminating ?bhura baal? (a reference to the four upper castes). He should be in the best position to explain today?s event,? she added.