28.10.13

Blasts rock Modi's Hunkar rally


Six people were killed and more than 80 injured after a number of explosions hit Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on Sunday, shortly before a rally by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Police officials in Patna said Indian Mujahideen, a banned terrorist group, was behind the attacks while New Delhi dispatched a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to the eastern city. The police arrested one person and detained two others, agencies said.
Undeterred, Modi proceeded with the rally that was aimed at challenging Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s hold over the state. Modi used the occasion to make a pitch for the votes of Muslim and Yadav communities, which have traditionally voted against BJP.
Addressing the rally, the largest political mobilisation by BJP in the eastern state in recent years, Modi said that people should be fighting poverty rather than each other. “Poor Muslims should be fighting their poverty rather than poor Hindus, and vice versa,” he said, adding people should strive for peace and unity, and protect Bihar’s reputation. Modi, who spoke for over 40 minutes, questioned Kumar’s political credibility and Congress-led UPA government’s record on governance. He also promised to stop referring to Rahul Gandhi, the Congress vice-president, as ‘Shehzada’, provided Congress gave up its dynastic ways. Bihar sends as many as 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The bombs exploded one after the other at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan, where tens of thousands of people had gathered to listen to Modi, triggering panic in the crowd, which initially mistook them for firecrackers. The explosions took place before Modi’s arrival, and the Gujarat chief minister made no reference to the blasts during his address. “Blasts in Patna are deeply saddening and unfortunate. Condolences with families of deceased and prayers with injured. I appeal for peace and calm,” Modi later tweeted.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who addressed the media in the evening, did not rule out the role of terror outfits in the attack. “We can’t rule out the involvement of terrorists. But it would be premature to say right now that a terrorist organisation was involved in the blasts,” Kumar told reporters. Kumar, the CM of Bihar since 2005, earlier this year ended an alliance with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party after the Gujarat CM was named the head of BJP’s campaign committee at the party’s Goa conclave in June this year, a precursor to his naming as the party’s PM candidate in September. Kumar has repeatedly said that Modi is not acceptable as the BJP’s PM candidate because of the Gujarat leader’s insufficient commitment to secularism. Addressing the media on Sunday, Kumar said the police had arrested one person at Patna railway station, where the first of the seven serial blasts took place. “The police have recovered telephone numbers and vital documents from the arrested person. He has given vital clues,” Kumar said, adding the serial blasts were part of an attempt to vitiate the atmosphere. “Even at the BJP rally, its leaders appealed to people to maintain peace. We welcome this. Despite our political differences, we should unite to frustrate the designs of individuals who want to divide the people,” Kumar said.
According to Director-General of Police Abhayanand, some of the bombs had timer devices while others had improvised switches. “The laid-down security drill was followed,” he claimed. 

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