Description
Former BJP MP Jawahar Prasad was arrested by Bihar police in connection with their investigation into communal clashes that broke out during a Ram Navami procession in Sasaram district in March this year. The BJP alleged that the former Sasaram MP was arrested to "appease" minorities. Prasad, a five-term MP from the Sasaram assembly seat, was arrested at his home on Friday night.
A Rohtas court had issued an arrest warrant for him.
Sasaram and Bihar Sharif, the district headquarters of Rohtas and Nalanda respectively, witnessed violence during the Ram Navami processions on March 31 and April 1. One person was killed in the clashes.
Commenting on Prasad's arrest, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters on Saturday: "The police are investigating the case. The culprits will be brought to justice regardless of their political affiliation. Investigators are doing their job. .. I never intervene in the police investigation." The BJP, on the other hand, claimed that Prasad was arrested to further the ruling alliance's "appeasement policy".
BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said in a statement: "The communal violence in Sasaram was wholly sponsored by the state solely to prevent the BJP from celebrating the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashok, whose Union Home Minister Amit Shah He was the main guest." “The person who died in the riot belonged to the category of the OBC. And now the state government wants to make a scapegoat of a popular CBO (Prasad) leader in this matter,” he said.
The BJP claimed that Nitish Kumar's government wanted to accuse Prasad and other subordinate leaders of continuing their "policy of appeasement".
