Togadia out, Laloo sends Giriraj back from airport

Patna District Magistrate Deepak Prasad and City Superintendent of Police O.N. Bhaskar went to the VHP leader at the tarmac and informed him about the ban on his function at Muzaffarpur and asked him to take the externment order. The district administration purchased the return ticket for Kishore who was made to board a Sahara Airlines flight back to Delhi. Bhaskar said the district administration banned Kishore’s entry fearing communal disturbances.

Kishore later said in Delhi that he will challenge Bihar’s action in court. Terming it as a violation of his right to move in any part of the country, he said ‘‘jungle raj’’ was prevailing in Bihar. Laloo Prasad Yadav was running the state like a ‘‘jagir’’, ruling the state through a proxy, he added.

‘‘I went to Patna to take part in some programmes in connection with Independence Day. But when I got down from the aircraft, about 100 policemen surrounded me and told me to go back. I first refused to comply with their request and asked them to take me to jail. But when they said they would be punished if I did not go back, I complied with their request,’’ Kishore said.

The VHP has called a Bihar bandh on August 19 to protest against the ‘‘undemocratic action’’ of the Rabri Devi government.

Defending the state government’s action, RJD chief Laloo Yadav said anybody trying to disturb communal amity in the state would be sternly dealt with. ‘‘They are trying to turn Bihar, a symbol of communal brotherhood, into Gujarat. How can we watch them accomplish their sinister designs,’’ he said. ‘‘Our campaign against VHP leaders will continue. Everytime they come, they will be turned back. And if they persist, they will be put behind bars in Beur Jai in rooms without a fan.’’