MK Stalin reached to meet Lalu Prasad.
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
People are drawing conclusions, you just see the sequence of events. Because, seeing this sequence, the politicians of Bihar are creating distance or closeness. There is politics of caste in this, also the policy of sensitivity. The present reason is Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s visit to Bihar in order to mobilize anti-BJP parties from across the country and open opposition to his arrival in Patna. To suppress this protest, Ashutosh Kumar, who formed the Rashtriya Jana Jana Party while doing politics of Bhumihar caste, has been kept under house arrest.
Why Manish Kashyap came in discussion
Manish Kashyap got recognition from YouTube due to his way of talking through social media on issues directly related to the common man. Although the government machinery was against Manish, but RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav gave him a sense. Here, there were reports of Biharis being beaten and killed in Tamil Nadu. There was an allegation of spreading rumors by showing Tamil Nadu-vs-Bihar fight by rotating the deaths. Before Manish Kashyap’s arrest on April 23, he had a confrontation with Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. Manish said that if he goes to jail, he will topple Tejashwi Yadav’s government within six months of his return.
Nitish and Tejashwi’s stand is different
When the news of Biharis being assaulted and killed in Tamil Nadu came, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inquired about the actual reality through the DGP, while Tejashwi Yadav became vocal. Only Tejashwi would know what is the inner reality, but the atmosphere remained that he had a role in getting Manish Kashyap arrested. This controversy would not have taken off if Tejashwi had not gone to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin’s birthday party at the same time. Bihar BJP made it an issue that where Biharis are being treated badly, the deputy CM of the state is partying there. The dispute cooled down with time, but the issue flared up when Stalin was called for a meeting to be held in Patna on June 23 for opposition unity.
Manish from the same caste as JDU president
On June 20, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar canceled his program on grounds of ill health before leaving for Tamil Nadu. Apart from Stalin’s tussle with the Congress, the issue of Manish Kashyap’s arrest had also created an atmosphere by then. JDU President Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh belongs to Bhumihar caste and there is tremendous pressure from this caste that political parties clear their stand regarding Manish Kashyap. For this reason the Bhumihar leaders either kept silence on Manish’s arrest or termed it as unjustified. Congress leaders were also involved in this, although no one was impressed by the action of the Tamil Nadu Police.
Nitish neither went to invite nor to welcome
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sent Minister Sanjay Jha from JDU along with Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav to invite Stalin. He also sent a letter of hearty greetings and told through the letter itself that Stalin is coming. When Stalin came in the evening of June 22, Nitish was meeting Arvind Kejriwal-Bhagwant Mann after meeting Mamta Banerjee and Left leaders. On the other hand, Tejashwi Yadav went to Patna airport to welcome Stalin and from there both reached Rabri residence. Here Stalin had a long meeting with RJD President Lalu.
The atmosphere is hot inside, so the security is strict
Security was beefed up when Stalin landed at Patna airport. There were clear and strict instructions to ensure that there should not be any kind of mobilization far and wide. The reason is that thousands of people supported the street demonstrations in Patna on 23 June along with running the #gobackstalin campaign on social media throughout the day. Founder of Bhumihar-Brahmin Ekta Manch and Rashtriya Jan Jan Party, who started the campaign and announced the protest Ashutosh Kumar was put under house arrest by the Bihar Police in Bhojpur. Even his WhatsApp-mobile is closed. The police-administration is ready to ensure that there is no protest at Kargil Chowk at 11 am.