Friday, June 24, 2011

CPM candidate Amit Sarkar to Win Purnea bypoll?

The Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) is backing Communist Party India (Marxist) candidate Amit Sarkar in the June 25 Purnea bypoll. Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Abdul Bari Siddiqui and State RJD president Ramchandra Purve persuaded the Party to take this step. The CPM has repeated its old candidate Amit Sarkar, son of slain party MLA Ajit Sarkar. In the 2010 polls, Amit Sarkar had got a little over 23,000 votes and was at third position.

Lok Jansakti Party (LJP) is supporting Indian National Congress candidate Ramcharitra Yadav who had secured over 39,000 votes and was at second position. The RJD-LJP alliance has not put up its candidate for the seat. Both are extending support to the candidate of two different secular parties.

The by-election to the Purnia town Vidhan Sabha seat, caused by the killing of BJP member Raj Kishore Kesri allegedly by Rupam Pathak on January 4, 2011. The counting for the election would be held on June 29 as announced by the Election Commission.

BJP is making the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters at Ramlila Ground in Delhi an issue. BJP national president Nitin Gadkari cleared the name of Kiran Kesri, widow of slain Kesri, to contest the Purnia by-poll. BJP would be trying to cash in on the sympathy factor. BJP has announced that if Kiran Kesri wins she would be made a minister in the state government.

Islamuddin of CPI-ML is also contesting the election. One wonders as to what happened to the Left Front formed at the time of Bihar assembly election. Like RJD-LJP, it seems even the Left alliance is over. There are three independents in the fray as well.In total there are 8 candidates.


Thursday, June 9, 2011

Bihar Police Kills Woman & Child in Forbesganj, Araria

Four people were killed and over a dozen injured in police firing on a group of protesters in Bihar's Araria district on 3rd June evening. The police opened fire at a group of protesters in Farbisganj, about 350 km from Patna. The angry people were protesting against the blocking of a street due to the construction of the boundary walls of a glucose and starch factory of Roorkee based Auro Sundaram International Pvt. Ltd.

It has com eto light that the land for the maize processing unit for production of maize starch and liquid glucose and a 3-MW captive power plant at the Forbesganj Industrial Area was allotted to the company last year by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA).

A woman and a child were among the four killed in the police firing. Hundreds of villagers were protesting in the matter of a dispute over land acquisition. It has been reported that Garima Mallik, SP, Araria and the local SDM faced resistance while attempting to pacify the protesters. M. Sarvanan, District Magistrate, Araria appears tight lipped about the issue.
 
Md. Afzal, a Hyderabad based academician present in Araria, submitted a petition to the National Commission For Minorities seeking its intervention in the Forbesganj firing case.


A PTI releases dated June 7 reports, the state government has set up a judicial commission to be headed by either a sitting or a retired judge of the Patna High Court to probe police firing at Forbesganj town in Bihar's Araria district in which four persons were killed and several others injured.

"The decision to constitute a judicial commission to probe Forbesganj police firing was taken at the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar," Principal Secretary (Cabinet Coordination and Secretariat) Ravikant told reporters in Patna.

"The commission will be headed by either a sitting or a retired Patna High Court judge, as the Chief Justice decides," he said.The commission will probe circumstances leading to the police firing on Friday and fixing responsibility on the cops involved in the incident, Ravikant said.

The decision was taken on the recommendation of Home Secretary Amir Subhani and Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Headquarters, Rajyavardhan Sharma, who visited Forbesganj for preliminary inquiry, Principal Secretary (Cabinet Coordination and Secretariat) said.

It is being sai that the interference of some local anti-social elements led to violence by the police.

The Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation [CPI(ML)]'s Fact Finding team took stock of the in Farbisganj Police Firing. The CPI(ML) fact finding team comprising of Central Committee member and Bihar State Committee Member, Comrades K D Yadav and Rajaram Singh (the two are also national vice president and general secretary respectively of All India Kisan Mahasabha), alongwith Araria District Party incharge, Naval Kishore and block secretary of Forbesganj, Genalal Mahato visited Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj and met with the villagers and family members of the deceased Mustafa Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari, Sajmin Khatoon and 8-month old child Naushad.

The team learned from the villagers that the road from Bhajanpur to Raniganj is 60 years old and at various points in time the zilla parishad, gram panchayat, mukhiya and others have conducted the repairing work. Keeping the path till here in mind NH 57 has constructed a subway also. But in course of BIADA acquiring land and construction of private factory by BJP legislative councillor, Ashok Aggarwal, on 28 acres of land, a conspiracy was hatched by them to block and close this road. This road connecting Bhajanpur to Raniganj, connects Bhajanpur village mainly inhabited by minority community (1000 families), to Karbala, Idgah, hospital and local bazaar. So the demand of the villagers to maintain this road is fully justified.

On 2nd June a wall was constructed on one end of the road, on the directions of BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal and on other end a deep digging was done for laying foundation. On 3rd June the villagers held a strong protest against this and demolished the boundary wall.

The police from 6 stations was already present there and perpetrated most heinous firing, firing hundreds of rounds of bullets and even after Mustafa and Sajmeen were shot above their waist the police flung on to them and trampled their felled but still alive bodies with their boots.

Pregnant Sajmeen Khatoon was returning after feeding her husband Farooq Ansari who is a construction worker at this factory. Mustafa was returning from his shop with 8000 rupees and mobile and he was still alive after being shot but police trampled his chest and bled him to death. The 8 month old Naushad was killed on the NH in police firing and his mother is injured and admitted at PMCH. 18 year old Mukhtar used to labour outside and was returning to the village.

Within 6 months this is the second incident of barbarism against minorities in Nitish Govt. On 22 Dec 2010 when the villagers of Bamraha under Kursakanta were protesting against an incident of rape, the jawans of BSF murdered four people of minority community. These incidents expose the truth about good-governance in Nitish government.

The CPI(ML) has demanded immediate arrests of the police officers led by the SP who conducted the firing, BJP Councillor Ashok Aggarwal and his goons, charging them under IPC 302, cancelling the lease of the 28 acres land, maintain the said road as it was, compensation of rupees 10 lakhs to the family of the deceased, 3 lakhs rupees as compensation to those injured and judicial inquiry of the whole incident. All those injured in firing have been shot above their waist, more than 100 families of the 1000 are BPL families.

This incident exposes the true face of anti-rural, anti-minority character and barbaric face of Nitish Kumar led government, the CPI(ML)'s fact finding team observed.

Wasi Ahmed Shamshi, Convenor, All India Milli Council, Bihar  said, "this government is of industrialists and billionaires, the government supports them."

Husn Ahmed Quadri, General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, Bihar and Jharkhand said, "Bihar police has always been communal. That’s why we demand proportionate representation of Muslims in police forces. A similar case has happened during the regime of Lalu Yadav when police gheraoed a village of Muslims in the same Araria district, misbehaved with women and took away 54 people and brutally tortured them. Then there was a secular government. The fact is police is communal. So any government that wants progress with peace, they should ensure proper representation of Muslims in police forces."



Maintaining that the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister's role be also probed, the RJD on 7th June demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Patna High Court into the Forbesganj police firing in which four people died. "The judicial probe should also inquire into the role of Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi, BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal and Forbesganj SDO Giriwar Dayal Singh," said Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

He said, "The confrontation between the villagers and the police took place because of Modi's direction to the local administration that the land for construction of the starch and glucose factory and the approach road within the premises of the proposed unit must be acquired." Modi gave the directive during his meeting with local administration on May 29. Siddiqui alleged that Agarwal, an industrialist, had ruled out giving any land for construction of the road. He also demanded cases to be registered against the accused officials.

A joint delegation of RJD and LJP met governor Devanand Konwar here on 8th June and informed him about the police atrocity resulting in firing at Forbesganj in Araria district. They complained about deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi's alleged role in the incident.

The delegation comprised leader of opposition in Bihar legislative assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui, RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav, former RJD MP Alok Kumar Mehta, former LJP MP Ramchandra Paswan, general secretaries of LJP Raghvendra Singh Kushwaha, Mehtab Alam and Lallan Prasad Singh. They urged the governor to get the matter inquired by a sitting high court judge within a set time frame and bring deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP MLA Ashok Agrawal and Forbesganj SDO Girwar Dayal Singh within the ambit of the probe.

They also demanded that an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each be made to the kin of deceased persons at the earliest; those found prima facie guilty in the killing be booked under Section 302 or 304 of the IPC; and security be provided to villagers who are living under constant threat from the ant-social elements.

Source: Agencies and websites