Bihar: BJP observes anti-terrorism day on first anniversary of Gandhi Maidan blasts

Patna: The Bihar unit of BJP on Monday observed anti-terrorism day to mark the first anniversary of terror attack at the Gandhi Maidan and accused former chief minister Nitish Kumar of being “solely responsible” for the incident which had claimed six lives and left scores of others injured.

The BJP leaders also paid tribute to six victims of the serial blasts and felicitated more than 30 persons who had sustained injuries in the attack.

On 27 October last year, terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) had carried out attack at Gandhi Maidan and surrounding areas ahead of then Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s ‘Hunkar Rally’.

Dharmraj Yadav was among those felicitated by the Bihar BJP for displaying valour in overpowering an IM activist who was injured after a bomb that he was carrying with him exploded at the Patna railway junction.

Yadav, working as a porter at the Patna railway junction, had risked his own life to nab the injured terrorist and handed him over to the GRP.

Speaking on the occasion, former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi lambasted Nitish Kumar for failing to put in place adequate security measures for the BJP rally.

“If one person has to be held responsible for the terror attack at the Gandhi Maidan on 27 October last, it has to be Nitish Kumar and him only,” Modi said.

“There were gaping holes in security measures for the BJP rally as no CCTV cameras were put in place to monitor suspicious activities, nor sniffer dogs or bomb disposal squads placed to detect explosives or related objects at the venue,” the former deputy chief minister alleged.

Sushil Modi criticised the ‘reticent’ approach of the state government for failing to order probe into security lapse by the Bihar police for the BJP rally after handing over probe to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) which is probing the terror angle of the serial blast.

Six people were killed and dozens of others sustained injuries in the blasts.

“As a result of lack of seriousness on the state government’s part to probe the role of Bihar police in preventing terror attack at the Gandhi Maidan last year, those civil and police officers responsible for putting in place security measures for the BJP rally have gone scot-free,” the BJP leader said.

He also hailed Narendra Modi, who has since become Prime Minister, for his deft handling of terror attack and going on to address the gathering at Gandhi Maidan despite the explosions.

Another senior BJP leader and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha paid tributes to victims of the Gandhi Maidan serial blast and said that the anti-terrorism day being observed by his party should not be deemed as a ‘marketing stunt’, but a serious bid to express solidarity with the kin of those killed in the terror attack as well as with the injured.

“It’s not a marketing stunt, but an endeavour to express solidarity with the victims’ families as well with those who had sustained injuries in the terror attack,” Sinha said.

The Leader of Opposition in the assembly Nandkishore Yadav slammed the Bihar government for being soft on terror and said that it was yet to take elaborate measures to deal with terrorist activities in Bihar.

PTI