Patna: A series of low-intensity blasts rocked the grounds of a rally held in Patna in the eastern Indian state of Bihar killing five and wounding more than 80.
The massive rally of India’s main opposition party, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), was addressed by the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
A few blasts took place while the rally was in progress and a large number of lives could have been lost but people maintained restraint and the police did not reveal that the attacks had taken place.
Authorities said as many as eight serial blasts took place in Patna on Sunday — the day of the BJP’s first mega rally in the state after the split with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United). While two blasts took place at the Patna railway station, six others went off in various part of Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the rally.
“At least five people have been killed in the serial blasts,” Bihar director general of police Abhayanand told the local media, suggesting that the Indian Mujahideen could be involved in the attack.
Soon after the blasts, the police launched a massive operation in the area and defused four live bombs planted underground at the venue. The police have cordoned off the entire Gandhi Maidan area and have stop people from visiting as they suspect more live bombs might be buried there.
TV footage showed plumes of smoke billowing in the sky and people running to save their lives. Later, police admitted the injured to local government hospitals.
The BJP alleged a conspiracy in the attacks. “The blasts were part of a deep political conspiracy to disturb our rally, yet our people came and some of them even lost their lives. They had to pay the price for attending the rally,” said BJP leader Giriraj Singh, former minister in the Nitish Kumar government. “We were kept in the dark by the police. We were told they were [fire crackers] or that the tyres of some vehicles had burst,” he added, expressing deep shock over the incident.
The Bihar chief minister has condemned the attacks in the strongest possible words and asked that the police thoroughly investigate the attack. The CM, who cancelled his tour of a eastern Bihar district where he was to attend a function, also said the state administration was taking help from the National Investigation Team to probe the incident.
In his address, Modi launched a scathing attack on his bete noire Nitish Kumar, describing him a “rank opportunist” and exhorted the masses to teach him a lesson in the coming polls. This was the first political engagement Modi has had in Bihar in the past decade.
“People keep on asking why he (Nitish Kumar) ditched BJP but I simply tell them that was nothing strange...the man who could ditch veteran socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan...can do anything,” said Modi.
He focused his attacks on the Congress and asked the masses to help make a Congress-free India in the coming elections. “It was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi has asked the masses to free India of the Britishers. Today, from the Gandhi Maidan, I appeal to you to help make a Congress-free India,” said Modi.
