Patna, June 10: Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt today condemned the June 3 clash and police firing at Forbesganj in Bihar that claimed four lives and said the incident was a ‘reflection of communal mentality'.
“The incident at Forbesganj is akin to what had happened in Gujarat. If such incident is not checked, Bihar too will face damage,” Bhatt said adding he had sought an appointment with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for discussion on it. “There is a situation similar to Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland at Bhajanpura in Forbesganj and panic prevails in the minds of the locals because of heavy police bandobast in the area.”
“I have full confidence in Nitish Kumar,” he told newsmen and urged the chief minister to stop recurrence of such incidents.
Social activist Shabnam Hashmi attacked the state government for failing to provide compensation to the bereaved families even after a week of the incident. “The government stand that compensation will be paid to the victims' families once the judicial probe concludes is improper.” She demanded that Kumar apologise for the police action and the superintendent of police and sub-divisional officer who were present at the spot during the firing be dismissed.
Hashmi also alleged that the incident took place on the directive of Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi and BJP MLC Ashok Agrawal and said the chief minister should put a check on the Modi's functioning. PTI
