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| Shri Lalit Narayan Mishra, Former Rail Minister |
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| Gandhi Maidan of Patna |
It
is the people of Bihar who saved the day in Patna on Sunday October 27,2013.
The atmosphere was surcharged at Gandhi Maidan as more than 5 lakhs people had
gathered from all parts of Bihar to listen to Narendra Modi, the BJP, Prime
Ministerial candidate. Despite the serial blasts the audience did not panic;
there was no commotion and stampede. There was no backlash of the blasts
carried out by anti-national elements. In any other place under the identical
situation, the crowd might have gone berserk ad turned violent. Fortunately,
Patna displayed perseverance of not reacting to the provocation of violence. It
was also prudent on part of the chief speaker Narendra Modi and other leaders
like the Party President Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley to avoid any mention of
the blasts in their speeches. At the conclusion of his speech Modi appealed to
the people to maintain peace and calm and go home peacefully.
The
blasts at Gandhi Maidan should not be seen purely in the perspective of current
political situation or from the election point of view. It is a grim reminder
and warning of political violence in the country that may inflict a severe blow
to our democracy.
It
was January 3, 1975 when Bihar witnessed first major political violence at
Balua Bazar in North Bihar. Lalit Narain Mishra, then Railway Minister in the
Indira Gandhi cabinet suffered fatal injuries in a bomb blast. Lalit Babu as he
was popularly called had gone to attend a function of Railways when a bomb
planted beneath the dais exploded killing a few on the spot. Lalit Narain was ss
ceriously injured and taken to Patna but he died. Till date, despite a
commission of inquiry and investigations nobody knows who was actually behind
the political murder of Lalit Babu; only conjectures are made for this first
political murder.
The
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on the night of May 21, 1991 at Sripendur in
Tamil Nadu was second political murder but the killers were not Indian but were
from Sri Lanka although some Indians were part of the international conspiracy
to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi in the midst of electioneering during the 1991 Lok
Sabha elections.
It
is unfortunate that some Congress leaders and some leaders of other political
parties hostile and opposed to the BJP are giving new twist to the Patna
explosions by suggesting indirectly that the BJP might have engineered the
blasts at the venue to gain political mileage. Nothing could be more wicked and
sinister than spreading the canard of this kind. It is to vitiate the
atmosphere further in run up to the elections in 2014. Already the Congress
leaders who are finding it difficult to defend the corruption and scams and who
are unable to meet the challenges from across the border have resorted to spreading
hatred in the name of secularism. Such tendency is going to pose a serious
threat to our deomocracy. Think twice before spitting venom.
It
made me sad to note that in the midst of volley of criticism and blames,
commentators and writers failed to come out with few words of praise for the
people of Bihar who showed ultimate maturity in maintaining peace in the city.
~R. K. Sinha
The whole world was watching & witnessing the historical event of Gandhi Maidan, Patna on 27th Oct and all were surprised to see Two rare phenomena. On one side the blasts were occurring and injured being rescued/ evacuated and on the other side, the Human Sea patiently waiting to hear his Leader. This speaks volume of People of Patna. So matured, so patient and yet full of quest and zeal. The facts about this sinister design are already out in open with arrest of four ANEs and people of Bihar are certain to punish these perpetrators in the coming election of 2014. However, one thing has clearly emerged for sure, "The Change seems to be Inevitable now"!
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