Bhagalpur, Dec. 11: The Opposition BJP and ruling coalition partner Congress today both condemned the December 8 police crackdown on demonstrators - including women and children - on hunger strike inside the collectorate campus.
Prem Kumar, leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, this morning met six women admitted to JLNMC hospital with fractures and head injuries, and alleged failure of the Nitish Kumar government on every front.
"Had the grassroot-level government officials been active to solve the problems of the landless poor people at Sultanganj block, there would be no need for the people to sit on hunger strike from December 5 outside the collectorate nor would they have been gone to meet the district magistrate (DM) at his chamber; they were prevented and that is how the problem started," the BJP leader alleged.
"The demonstrators were all landless and were on hunger strike for over four days," he said. "They wanted to meet the DM to demand for basgeet parchas (government receipts of land). They were caned, women - mostly aged - were brutally assaulted by police and the sub divisional officer (SDO), sadar, Kumar Anuj. If the local level officer were sensitive at Sultanganj there was no need for the people to come to the DM at Bhagalpur.
"The Nitish government in 2014 decided to provide 5 decimal of land to landless people in rural areas (in urban areas it was 3 decimal). Then why do people have to walk to Bhagalpur from Sultanganj to complain to the DM even after two years?."
Prem, who met the injured women at the hospital along with local BJP leaders, said his party suspects major irregularities by officers at block levels and has demanded a judicial inquiry.
He condemned the arrest of six persons from Jan Sansad, a Sultanganj-based body that fights for the cause of poor and underprivileged, which had organised the hunger strike.
Local Congress MLA Ajit Sharma also condemned the police action as "most unfortunate in the tenure of the Nitish government, which is known as the government of the poor and the underprivileged".
Sharma showed reporters some video footage of the police crackdown and questioned the administration's action on the protesters.
"Why do people have to come to Bhagalpur from far distant places like Sultanganj for not getting basgeet parchas? What were the officials doing when dozens of people were on hunger strike under the open sky outside the collectorate braving the chilly weather? Who allowed the SDO sadar to cane aged women, and who instigated the police to strip the women?" Sharma asked.
He also accused the local administration of violating the chief secretary's directive of during an earlier anti-encroachment drive here.
Bibhuti Goswami, district president of the JDU, said Rajiv Ranjan "Lalan" Singh, the water resources minister who also happens to the in-charge minister of Bhagalpur, was made aware of the incident by a JDU activist Shanker Bind who also was on hunger strike outside the collectorate and an eyewitness to the police crackdown.
The minister will visit Bhagalpur soon and conduct a separate inquiry into the episode, Goswami said.
District magistrate Adesh Titarmare was not available for comment as he is on leave but when contacted, SDO sadar Kumar Anuj said they have video footage suggesting that it was a pre-planned conspiracy to attack the DM and other officers while using the women and children as human shields.
"The mob turned unruly and started throwing bricks at us, many of us sustained injuries. Police did not beat a single woman; either they (the injured women) received head injuries from stone pelting or they fell on the ground and were trampled by the mob that was chased away from the collectorate premises," the SDO claimed.
