Patna, September 24, 2013: Bihar is set to increase anti-riot battalions in each of its districts as religious processions with strong political overtones are fanning communal tensions in the State, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said at a meeting of the National Integration Council in New Delhi on Monday. “The number, frequency and magnitude of religious processions are also increasing. These are sometimes given innovative names like ‘yatra’ or ‘parikrama,’ taken out anytime of the year, and over a larger area. This is unwarranted. Religion is largely a private affair. It is being used as an occasion for the public show of strength – displaying lethal weapons, beating of loud music and unruly mob behaviour on the streets. Any attempt to regulate or control such behaviour is taken as interference into religious freedom and communal passions are stirred,” Mr. Kumar said.

He referred to the recent communal clash in Bettiah town. “The event has been recorded and photographed to prove that a religious occasion was misused to arouse communal passions among people. Serious communal clashes erupted in the town shortly afterwards,” he said.

Mr. Kumar asked the Centre to provide Central Armed Police Forces like the Rapid Action Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, for Bihar, during festival time. In the wake of the Muzaffarnagar riots, he called for a united fight against “forces [that] fan the fire of communal tensions in order to polarise the situation in their favour.”

Source: The Hindu, September 24, 2013