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Meeting the families of six persons killed in serial bomb blasts during his Sunday rally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday assured them all help from the party.
Amid tight security, Modi first headed for Gaurichak in old Patna locality to convey his condolences to the kin of village Azeemchak resident Raj Narain Singh, 65, who had died in the serial blasts. The BJP leader garlanded the photograph of Singh, sat on the floor as he consoled the family and handed them a cheque of Rs 5 lakh on behalf of the party, said Arun Sinha, BJP MLA from Kumrahr.
Singh was a farmer and an ardent follower of Jaiprakash Narayan. He had gone to Modi’s rally without informing his family, the Gujarat Chief Minister was informed by Bihar’s former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi who accompanied him. Leader of Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav was also present. Sinha said the family sought a job for one of the three sons of Singh and Modi assured them he would look into it. Singh’s other two sons are in the Army.
“Modi consoled Singh’s widow. The family was assured the party would take care of them and and they were satisfied Modi had come to meet them,” BJP leader Ravishanakar Prasad said.
Modi’s visit was delayed by two hours in the morning due to fog. As the weather opened up, he left for Gauraichak, 25 kms from here, in a helicopter. He has been accorded the status of “state guest” by the Bihar government. The state guest house, where he has been staying, is opposite to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence.
Heavy security arrangement were in place Modi’s visit. Besides, Bihar police personnel, 150 police officials from Gujarat including one additional director general of police-rank officer, two deputy inspector general of police and six deputy superintendent of police level officials have come to Bihar as part of elaborate security cover for Modi at all the places he would visit, police sources said.
As part of Z++ VVIP security arrangement for Modi, the Bihar government has issued an alert. A DIG rank officer along with Commissioner is accompanying the Gujarat Chief Minister in all the districts he is visiting, police sources added.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj was also present at Singh’s residence.
Mediapersons were allowed near the residence after a thorough check. From Gaurichak, Modi was slated to families of victims in Kaimur, Gopalganj, Supual, Begusarai and Nalanda.
Nalanda, the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be the final destination of Modi. From there he will fly to Patna airport to return to Ahmedabad in his chartered plane, BJP sources said.
Six persons were killed in multiple explosions on October 27 during “Hunkar rally” addressed by Modi, his first major political show in rival Nitish Kumar’s home turf after parting of ways of Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] and BJP on June 16 last.
The investigation in the blasts case has pointed to involvement of Indian Mujahideen militant outfit. Within a week, Narendra Modi has returned to Bihar to pay condolence to the six persons killed in the blasts on Sunday. The ruling JD(U) hit out at Modi, alleging he was playing politics of polarisation and questioned why he had never visited the families of 2002 Gujarat riots.
“This kind of behaviour does not behove a person who has been named as the prime ministerial candidate by the main opposition party. We are not saying he should not come to Bihar. But the time he has chosen is not right,” JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said.
His colleague K C Tyagi attacked Modi for travelling with a large security entourage from Gujarat, saying his actions were an insult to the prestige of Bihar. “It is naked aggression from one state against another. He is behaving like the cruel invaders from the medieval period. Till now we had only seen Centre’s interference in affairs of the states,” he said.
Modi, who arrived at JP Airport, Patna late on Friday night from Pune, was received at the airport by Sushil Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, Shahnawaz Hussain, Ravishankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan among others.
Referring to the blast victims as ‘shaheed’ (martyr), Modi tweeted after his visit, “Met family of Shaheed Raj Narain Singh in Gaurichak. Proud to know that his 2 sons are serving in the Army!”
Modi said he met the wife and children of Vikas Singh in Kaimur and “offered my deepest condolences to the family”. He spoke to wife of another victim Srivastava on phone. “We are all a part of one family and stand by them in this hour of grief,” he said on Twitter.
Modi said he spoke to son of Bharat Rajak, another victim, over telephone and was told about a “touching anecdote”. “Rajak had a pet pigeon who would stay next to his bed. Bharat would not begin his day without feeding grain to the pigeon. The pigeon refused to leave the dead body of Bharat and travelled with the body till the funeral. Even now the pigeon stays around Bharat’s room,” Modi said.
