Patna, Sep 4 (PTI) — Women members of the NDA's political parties in Bihar executed a five-hour statewide bandh on Thursday to protest an alleged verbal attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother during the Congress's recently-concluded 'Voter Adhikar Yatra'.
The women's wings from BJP, JD(U), and other alliance parties initiated the bandh at 7 am and staged demonstrations across Patna and other regions.
At Patna's Income Tax roundabout, protesters chanted slogans and displayed placards condemning the Congress and RJD for the incident.
Senior BJP figures, including state ministers, MPs, MLAs, and workers, are expected to hold a sit-in outside the state unit office later today.
Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal, along with MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmshila Gupta, state minister Nitin Nabin, and other senior leaders, will attend the dharna, as confirmed by an official statement from the state BJP.
Speaking to PTI, Patna (Central) Superintendent of Police Diksha stated, "Adequate forces have been deployed at all points to prevent any untoward incident." Similar demonstrations were conducted by NDA factions in various parts of the state, including Nawada, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, and Darbhanga.
Last week, a purported video went viral showing an individual shouting an expletive into a microphone on a small podium in Darbhanga, set up by a local Congress leader. The organizer claimed no significant party figures were present at the incident.
The accused, a 25-year-old Darbhanga resident, has been arrested. Nonetheless, tensions remain high, with BJP supporters taking to the streets and engaging in altercations with Congress leaders at their state headquarters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his initial reaction on September 2, expressed being "deeply pained" by the incident but emphasized that, while he could forgive the RJD and Congress, the people of Bihar will not "pardon them".
"My late mother had nothing to do with politics, so what was her fault; why was she abused?" Modi remarked, his voice laden with emotion.
"I may forgive them for once, but the people of this country have never brooked any insult to one's mother... It is now the duty of every son of Bihar to hold the RJD-Congress combine accountable for their conduct. In every town and street, wherever their leaders go, they must get the message loud and clear that insult to mothers and sisters will not be tolerated," the Prime Minister added.
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