Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui addresses journalists at the news meet in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Feb. 3: Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui today asked chief minister Nitish Kumar to look into the house-grab complaint lodged by the relatives of late poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.

Earlier on February 1, The Telegraph had reported that Dinkar’s daughter-in-law Hemant Devi and his grandson Arvind Kumar Singh had told the chief minister during his janata darbar that they were being harassed by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s kin Mahesh Modi.

The two had alleged that Mahesh had been troubling the family for many months as he wanted to grab Dinkar Bhavan, located at Arya Kumar Road, near Machuatoli.

Abdul Bari Siddiqui today visited the house of Dinkar and met Hemant Devi and Arvind Kumar Singh.

Addressing the media, the RJD leader said: “Apart from being a great Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar was also a freedom fighter who played a significant role during the fight for Independence. A close relative of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has been harassing the daughter-in-law and grandson of Dinkar. No legal action has been taken against Modi’s relative despite Dinkar’s family members’ visit to the janata darbar of the chief minister and the and deputy chief minister.”

He further said: “Sushil Kumar Modi’s relative wants to grab the house of Dinkar. He is not ready to vacate the shop located on the premises of Dinkar Bhavan even after the rent agreement expired months ago. He has been threatening the family members with dire consequences. It’s a big insult to Dinkar who also was a very close friend of Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan. If this is called susashan, then we are sorry to say that it’s not so.”

Siddiqui claimed that the chief minister did not even listen to the complaint of Hemant Devi, who is an octogenarian.

“When they (Dinkar’s relatives) visited chief minister’s janata darbar at 1 Aney Marg, Nitish Kumar did not even speak to the 80-year-old Hemant Devi and Arvind Singh. The chief minister asked them to speak to his secretary. They are not ordinary people; the chief minister should have at least listened to their problem. The same thing happened during deputy chief minister’s janata darbar where Modi said that he cannot do anything about the complaint.”

“No government can insult such an iconic poet. Dinkar’s relatives even met the city SP but he said that if the chief minister will say something in this matter, he would surely take action,” Siddiqui said.

He also informed that people related to literature and poetry will hold protest march tomorrow at Raj Ghat, New Delhi, in support of Dinkar’s relatives.

A day after the report was published in The Telegraph, the deputy chief minister had denied having any involvement in the matter. Modi has said that he had thousand of relatives and he did not intervene in family matters.