Manjhi slams BJP for making Bihar madrasa blast 'communal'

Two days after an explosion at a madrasa in Bihars Banka district left one imam (religious teacher) dead, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) on Thursday attacked the BJP leaders for terming madrasas as hubs of terrorist activities in the state.
Former Bihar Chief Minister and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi alleged that when Muslims study in madrasas, they are labelled as terrorists, and when poor Dalits achieve success in their lives or raise their voice against wrongdoings, they are branded as Naxals.

"Leaders who are declaring people as terrorists and Naxals should come out of this mind set. It is not good for the unity and sovereignty of the country," Manjhi said.

Danish Rizwan, the national spokesperson of HAM, said that those leaders who are raising questions on madrasas should apologise for their statements in public.

"We have a clear stand about conducting a thorough probe into the blast. Now the Banka police have clarified that there was no terror link to the incident. It was a crude bomb that had exploded in the madrasa and no evidence has been collected so far to link the incident to any kind of terror activity," Rizwan said.

"The inflammatory statements of BJP leaders may create communal tension in the state," Rizwan added.

Earlier, BJP MLA from Bisfi, Haribhushan Thakur, had alleged that madrasas are the hubs of terrorist activities in Bihar, demanding the closure of all such institutions.


HAM is an alliance partner of the NDA government in Bihar, which is reported to be close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.-IANS