Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said Union minister Giriraj Singh's meeting with the jailed Bajrang Dal activists in Nawada district was "not acceptable" and made it clear that his government would not tolerate any attempts to disturb communal harmony in the state.
Although there was no official word on the matter from the BJP, Kumar's alliance partner in the state, to which Singh also belongs, a couple of leaders from the party adopted a stance at variance with that of the chief minister.
Singh, who represents Nawada in the Lok Sabha, had on Saturday called on the jailed activists, one of whom was arrested recently in connection with a communal flare-up that took place last year, and the remaining were held while trying to enforce a bandh in protest.
His visit to the Bajrang Dal activists in the jail came close on the heels of Union minister Jayant Sinha felicitating eight convicts in the Ramgarh lynching case after they came out of prison on bail in Jharkhand.
The firebrand BJP leader had told reporters yesterday at the house of one of the jailed Bajrang Dal activist that he saw the arrests as an "attempt to suppress the Hindus", even when the other side was at fault and remarked that he "felt helpless" at not being able to do anything in this regard though his party was in the ruling coalition in the state.
When asked about the episode, Kumar said, "This was not acceptable. One may have an opinion about anything and may express it at a proper place. But an open display of sympathy for those whom the administration has found guilty on some counts, is not proper. If someone appears to have been wrongly arrested, one should move the court against it."
Asked about Singh's remarks with allegedly communal overtones, Kumar said, "There are many attempts in today's society to disturb social harmony. People have given up decorum in speech. But our government has always been committed to maintaining communal harmony and no attempts to disturb the same will be encouraged, or even tolerated."
Meanwhile, when asked about the JD(U)'s displeasure over the episode, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a press conference here, "In a democracy, everybody has a right to ask questions.....elected representatives, those who are in public life, do have to meet many people."
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