The BJP has decided to observe October 27, the day serial blasts rocked the party’s Hunkar Rally last year, as Anti-Terrorism Day.

Soon after the blasts that claimed six lives, the BJP had accused the Nitish Kumar government of going soft on terrorism.

The state unit of the BJP has asked senior leaders to organise functions on the day at the district headquarters to condemn terrorism.

In Patna, the state unit would organise a function at Indira Gandhi Science Complex, Planetarium, in which former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, state BJP president Mangal Pandey and other leaders would participate.

After paying respect to the six deceased, the state unit has also decided to honour the injured people in the blasts.

Six persons — Bharat Rajak, Munna Srivastva, Bindeshwar Sah, Vikash Singh, Rajnarayan Singh and Rajesh Kumar — lost their lives, while more than 24 people were injured in the blasts. The BJP has invited around 20 people, who were injured in the blasts, on the occasion. The party has decided to honour them.

According to sources, the party has decided to raise terrorism-related issues and for this, the party has planned its programme a month back.

Mangal Pandey on Sunday unveiled the statue of “martyr” Bindeshwar Sah at his native village Khodabandpur in Begusarai. Nand Kishore Yadav on Saturday unveiled the statue of Munna Shrivastva at his village in Gopalganj. During his visit to Supaul on October 8, Sushil Kumar Modi had unveiled the statue of Bharat Rajak.

After Chhath, Modi would unveil the statue of Vikash Singh in Kaimur. Statues of Rajnarayan Singh and Rajesh Kumar would be unveiled at Gaurichak (Patna) and Nalanda respectively.

The decision to observe the day as Anti-Terrorism Day is seen by opponents as an effort aimed by the party to make political gains.

JDU state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh said: “BJP’s work is to polarise people on religious lines to make political gains. The recent attempt by the party is to disrupt communal harmony.”

However, the BJP feels that observing Anti-Terrorism Day is not a political event but a way of remembering the martyrs who lost their lives in the blasts.

Sudhir Sharma, the BJP state general secretary, said: “There is no harm in remembering the martyrs who lost their lives at a party rally. If the state government is not remembering its people what is wrong if the party remembers them?”

After the Hunkar Rally, the saffron party had slammed Nitish Kumar for “following the policy of appeasement”.

A week after the rally, Narendra Modi visited Bihar again to meet the family members of the people who were killed in the blasts.

Modi, along with Bihar BJP leaders, met the family members of the blast victims and handed them a cheque of Rs 5 lakh each.

Post Hunkar Rally, the BJP had organised 14 election rallies as part of the general election tour. In the rallies, Modi slammed Nitish for the deteriorating law and order issue in the state.

A BJP leader said: “The blasts during the Hunkar Rally helped the party in creating sympathy. Though JDU condemned the incident, it failed to check the people’s anger and had no answer to BJP’s attack of Bihar becoming a haven for terrorist activities.”