Opinion Is Nitish erring on the side of caution?
Muslim voters of the state are facing the biggest dilemma in the last two decades.
The Bihar police does not look too happy with the Nitish Kumar governments decision to hand over Patna serial blasts probe to NIA,especially with the local police having cracked the case with immediate arrests of two prime suspects.
It also again exposes the JD(U) government open to the charge of not wanting to get into any tricky and touchy investigation involving Muslim youths.
The first time it was accused of this was when IM mastermind Yasin Bhatkal was arrested from the India-Nepal border recently. The Bihar government did not show interest in even interrogating him. Nor was any case lodged against him for raising the Darbhanga module over the last six years.
Over a dozen arrests of terror suspects from Darbhanga and Madhubani in last three years by NIA,Delhi,Karnataka and Hyderabad police had presented a good enough case for the Bihar police to lodge a case against Yasin. The state government had in fact cited CrPC provision violations after the Karnataka Police had taken away Barh Samela resident Kafeel Akhtar without taking him on transit remand.
However,Yasin was handed over to NIA and the matter rested there.
Although Nitish tries to take the moral high ground in his decision to hand over sensitive Bodhgaya and Patna blast probes to the professional NIA,it is easier for many to see a squeamish CM protecting his political interests in this.
The 2014 election is just a few months away and Bihar poll equations have drastically changed after NDA split and Lalu Prasads conviction in the fodder case. Muslim voters of the state are facing the biggest dilemma in the last two decades with both Nitish and Lalu being on the same side of the secular divide.
With Narendra Modi also starting to appease Muslims with his offer from Gandhi Maidan to choose between poverty and communalism,Nitish is all the more constrained to reinforce his secularism credentials.
The state government anyway faces allegations from former ally and now principal opposition BJP of being soft on Naxalism and terrorism both. The BJP,which shared power with Nitish for seven and a half years,now openly says that his regime did not seek speedy trial of any hardcore Naxal.
Santosh is a special correspondent based in Patna
santosh.singh@expressindia.com
Share
