RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav Condemns Munger Firing, Asks Who Gave Permission To Act Like General Dyer

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday demanded a High Court-monitored probe into the Munger incident in which one person was killed and over two dozen others, including security personnel, were injured in firing and stone-pelting during goddess Durga idol immersion.

Accompanied by Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala and other leaders of the Grand Alliance, Yadav made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, asking who gave permission to the Munger police to act like "General Dyer".

General Reginald Dyer is known for ordering troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed civilians in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab, killing at least 379 people on April 13, 1919.

The Munger incident happened late Monday night at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Chowk under the Kotwali police station limits of the city.

While people alleged the young man, who was in his early 20s, died in police firing, the administration said he was hit by a bullet fired by somebody from among the crowd.

The opposition attack on the ruling party is apparently based on the fact that Munger Superintendent of Police Lipi Singh is the daughter of RCP Singh, the JD(U) leader in the Rajya Sabha.

With the incident coming at a time when Bihar is voting on 71 constituencies in the first phase Wednesday, opposition parties are making every efforts to corner the ruling NDA.

Going after the central clergyman, Tejashwi Yadav asked Kumar,who likewise holds the home portfolio, what did he do to forestall the occurrence. 

"Aside from giving a couple of tweets what did vice president serve Sushil Modi do to forestall the terrible occurrence," he told columnists preparing weapons on his opponents. 

"The video of the occurrence is appalling as young people have been hardheartedly thumped up by the police who came down lathis on them. For what reason policed open fire?" he inquired. 

Hitting out at the BJP,



he asked the saffron party who he said never passes up on an opportunity to excoriate lawfulness during the RJD rule and trumpeting about "twofold motor" government (BJP drove alliance in power at the middle just as in Bihar) as "for what reason would they say they are quiet now...On whose request the occurrence occurred?" 

"This isn't a common episode. There ought to be a High Court-monitered test into the occurrence and the region justice and the superintedent of police will be promptly taken out," the resistance boss pastoral applicant requested.

"Instruction must have been issued from somewhere to the Bihar police to act like General Dyer," he added.

Congress national spokesman Randeep Surjewala alleged that "under influence of the BJP the devotees of lord Durga are being targetted by the police in the state."

"This is the sanskaar-sanskriti (tradition and culture) of the JD(U)-BJP alliance," he alleged.

He backed Yadav's comparison of Munger police with the tyrant General Dyer.

Surjewala said the people are awaiting a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on an election tour of the poll-bound state Wednesday into the Munger incident.

LJP president Chirag Paswan has also launched an attack on Kumar over the Munger incident.

In a tweet, he has demanded that "A 302 (murder) case should be registered against the Munger Police. Firing on devotees shows Nitish's is a Talibani regime. The local SP should be suspended immediately and an FIR registered against her under section 302 (murder)."

Witnesses have said that the trouble started after a makeshift bamboo carrier broke down while carrying a Durga idol Monday night and it was taking time to repair it.

They said as the carrier was being repaired other idol processions got held up, leading to a pile-up.

The witnesses said the administration wanted the procession to clear up quickly as the security personnel had to be deployed on election duty Wednesday.