Gandhi’s visit came amidst several complains by the Muslim community of being neglected by mainstream political
parties and government institutions. All the victims of this police firing are Muslims. Bhajanpura in Forbesganj is predominantly a Muslim village while the main accused behind the police firing is a BJP Member of Legislative Council Ashok Agarwal.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday stayed about one and half hour in the village with the family members of those killed in the firing. Though there is a demand for CBI enquiry into the incident and compensation to all the victims, Gandhi did not mince a word on this. “Justice will be done,” said Gandhi, whose visit to Forbesganj is seen as looking for a minority constituency in the state where Congress party is trying to revive its political fortune.
Rahul went to the house of a boy, Md. Rashid Ansari who was injured in the firing, said that all assistance would be provided to the victims. He also spoke to Ansari’s mother Phulia Khatoon.
Rahul asked State Congress president Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser to bring the injured boy to New Delhi for treatment.
On June 3, villagers of Rampur and Bhajanpur under Forbesganj block in Araria district came out, after Friday Prayer and protested against blockade of the connecting road between the two villages for a factory. The police not only opened fire at them but chased them to their homes killing five people including a pregnant woman and a seven-month-old infant and injuring many others.