Patna resident Salui Raza shouts to make his complaint heard at the chief minister’s janata darbar in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Oct. 17: A number of visitors to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s janata darbar today blew their top to voice their complaints.

While one of them demanded speedy justice, the other threatened to immolate himself, if his problem was not solved. At the receiving end was Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) chairman P.K. Rai. The officer, however, refused to be drawn into a verbal duel, and calmly listened to the complaints.

First, Parsa resident Subhash Prasad Singh turned up at Rai table and put forward his complaint. Then he started shouting. “To have been born in Bihar has been my greatest mistake. The government is good for nothing. I want justice. Give it to me now,” said the agitated complainant.

Singh also claimed that he had been forced to raise his voice because the BSEB chairman did not listen to him at first. This performance managed to attract the attention of the people gathered at 1 Aney Marg. A number of journalists and photographers surrounded him and started to take his photograph. On finding that he had been able to gather an audience, he raised the tempo for his act.

Soon, the chief minister’s secretaries rushed to the BSEB chairman’s table to find out what the commotion was. At length, when no reasoning could persuade Singh to calm down, the security guards asked him to leave and to not create a nuisance.

Barely 10 minutes later, another visitor, Salui Raza, too, started to shout near Rai’s table. At first, no one took any notice of him. Then he declared: “Give me justice, else I will immolate myself in the darbar.”

Smelling another performance, the journalists ran to him again. An audience give him the confidence to continue to stage his outrage. “I warn you: Either solve my problem immediately or I will set myself on fire. You will be responsible for my death.”

The undaunted Rai continued to ask Raza to calm down even as ministers and other officials to get a better view.

This performance too continued for a few minutes. But soon the chief minister got up to leave as he had finished meeting all the visitors. The journalists abandoned the agitated complainant and followed Nitish. The performer too calmed down and left.

Asked about why complainants lose their temper at the janata darbar, Nitish said: “They are probably agitated about their problems. But shouting does not help. It is difficult to hear when a person shouts.”

The chief minister also praised Rai for his calmness in the face of anger.