Opposition parties launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar both inside and outside the Bihar Assembly as the House resumed proceedings on Monday after a break for the festival of Holi.

As the Opposition cornered the government over the issue of murders and deadly attacks on police during Holi, while ruling party leaders retaliated, Nitish Kumar left the House.

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Outside the House, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly raised the issue of law and order during the 20 years rule of Nitish Kumar and made serious allegations against the BJP-Nitish government.

Citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the RJD leader said that 60,000 people were murdered and 25,000 women were raped in Bihar, while a maximum number of attacks on police was recorded during the last 20 years. “Bihar has also become the state with the highest number of line-of-duty deaths during Nitish Kumar’s rule. This government has completely failed and the Chief Minister has bowed down to the criminals,” he said.

“We wanted this issue to be discussed in the House. They are not discussing it. They are not even discussing the martyrdom of the police personnel. They do not want to debate on this because they do not have any answer,” he added.

Earlier, in the Legislative Council premises, former chief minister Rabri Devi said the killing of 22 people during Holi is a serious matter and the chief minister should speak about it. “He keeps mentioning about jungleraj, but policemen were not killed as they are being killed during his ‘Mangalraj’. Girls are being raped and killed today. Why is Nitish Kumar silent on it,” she asked.

After the continuous protests in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar summoned the Director General of Police (DGP) and Chief Secretary of Bihar. He discussed the increasing crime in the state and the failure of the police. It is believed that due to the increasing pressure, the government may soon take some tough decisions.

Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan and Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Pankaj Darad told the media on Monday that 12 cases of attack on Bihar Police were reported during Holi in which two police officers were martyred and 27 policemen have been reported injured.

This year on Holi, a total of 11 incidents were reported between two different communities, however, no serious law and order problems were reported. A total of 14 people were injured in these incidents. No one died. 29 people have been arrested so far.