The NDA's Aakrosh March in Patna on Tuesday, to protest the law and order situation in the state, lacked aakrosh (anger).
The march, which started from the BJP office at Beer Chand Patel Marg at 11.35am, ended abruptly at the R-Block roundabout (around 1km away) around 12.25pm.
Police stopped the 2,500-strong crowd, made up of mostly members of the BJP and its allies, at the closed R-Block gate.
Some cadres tried to climb over the gate. The police fired water cannons for around five minutes, which saw majority of the cadres dispersing from the spot, leaving.
NDA leaders, including BJP state president Mangal Pandey, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Prem Kumar, BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav and LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan, who were part of the march, stayed back at the spot, addressing the remaining workers.
Pandey said: "The law and order situation in Bihar is rapidly deteriorating with the state witnessing a series of murders. No one is safe in Bihar, as the crime graph in the state has gone up in the past two-and-a-half months."
Echoing Pandey's views, Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar said: "The lawlessness in the state has come to such a pass that Opposition leaders are being targeted and killed."
Last week, two BJP leaders, including party state vice-president Visheshwar Ojha and leader Kedarnath Singh, were shot dead. On February 5, LJP sympathioser Brijnathi Singh was shot dead in Kachchi Dargah area, which is in deputy chief minister Tejaswi's constituency Raghopur.
At the march, however, lack of enthusiasm and zeal to protest was evident.
A BJP cadre who was part of the protest said: "Had the march been carried out by the RJD or the Left parties, it would have continued for hours, drawing government attention. But our protest seems customary."
The lack of enthusiasm on the part of senior NDA leaders was also evident; neither former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi nor former chief minister and HAMS leader Jitan Ram Manjhi took part in the march.
Sushil, while holding his janata durbar, said: "As the function was organised by BJP Mahanagar (district unit), it was unnecessary that I attend every protest march."
Sushil was also missing from the NDA delegation that visited Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum on the poor law and order situation in the state on Monday.
On the sidelines of his weekly janata durbar, Sushil said: "The victory of RLSP's Sudhanshu Shekhar from Harlakhi is people's referendum against the Nitish government as they are worried with the slipping law and order,"
He also attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar for supporting jailed JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition by the Delhi police.
