Under fire from the opposition for a spate of communal violence which rocked the state during Ramnavami last month, the Nitish Kumar government in a significant political move has decided to repair mosques damaged by the rampaging mob.

The development assumes significance given the fact that the BJP, the coalition partner in the ruling NDA government, has been blamed for stoking communal frenzy.

As per reports, the state government has released a fund of more than Rs two lakh to repair the Gudri mosque and Jiaul-Ulum Madarsa which were partially damaged by the mob during the communal violence that erupted in Samastipur district last month.

The state government has also allotted Rs 25 lakh as compensation for those whose shops were set afire during the communal violence in Aurangabad district which reeled under tension for four days, prompting the authorities to rush additional security forces and make deployment of top official to tackle the situation.

As per reports, quite 50 shops were damaged by the rioting mob in the district which, elders said, never saw such level of communal frenzy in the past.
Apart from these, the state government has also released a fund of Rs 8.5 lakh for compensating affected people in Nawada district which also witnessed communal violence.

A total of nine districts, such as Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Samastipur, Jamui, Munger, Nalanda and Nawada reeled under communal violence for close to a fortnight during Ramnavami as the government had to battle hard to restore peace.

What was strange, the rioters refused to retreat into the background even after the chief minister issued stern warnings many times saying he can’t tolerate “communalism” just as he has been totally against corruption.

The government faced severe embarrassment when one of the BJP leaders Arijit Shashwat, son of Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, continued challenging the might of the government even as the police armed with arrest warrant issued by the court continued looking for his whereabouts to arrest him.

The police had registered a case against him for inciting communal tension in Bhagalpur district. After being on the run for a about a fortnight, he finally surrendered before the police in Patna in a midnight drama.

Reports said Kumar is said to be hugely annoyed with the BJP over the way it allegedly tried to incite communal tension in the state. on Thursday again, he expressed his annoyance in public when he said he never compromised with rule of law and committed to maintain communal harmony and “if somebody tries to disturb, he has to go behind the bars”.

“Hamlong sampradayikta ko bardast nahin kar sakte hain and na jo crime ko badhawa dega usko bardast karenge. In sab chijon ke saaath koi samjhauta nahin higa,” Kumar declared on Thursday, addressing a function in Patna.