After Forbesganj police firing demand for action against Bihar's deputy chief minister

Deccan Chronicle

Demand for action on Modi grows

June 18, 2011
By ANAND S.T. DAS
Correspondent
Patna

Even as the injured victims of the Forbesganj police firing languish at a Patna hospital without proper medical care, hectic politicking continues unabated in Bihar amid communal undertones and growing demands for action against deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the brutal crackdown on Muslim villagers.

The June 3 firing on villagers protesting against land acquisition by a private factory, which killed four people, and subsequent revelations of police brutality leading to the death of a bullet-hit teenager in the presence of Araria SP Garima Mallik have given the Opposition parties enough ammunition to bombard the JD(U)-BJP coalition government. Sharp criticism of the Nitish Kumar-led government by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and social activist Shabnam Hashmi have added to the morale of the Congress, RJD, LJP, NCP and the Left parties.
A series of demonstrations by these parties and their demands for wide-ranging punitive action for the attacks on the Muslim villagers have hit two significant pillars of Mr Kumar’s robust position in power, his painstakingly acquired credibility among Muslims despite the alliance with the BJP and his continuous efforts to improve the work culture and image of the Bihar police force.
Bihar Congress president Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser said the Forbesganj police firing will eventually quicken the ouster of Mr Kumar’s government just like incidents in Singur and Nandigram led to the exit of West Bengal’s Left Front government.