RJD defers 'Bihar bandh' to December 21

The main opposition party in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), on Tuesday deferred the statewide bandh it had called to protest against the sand mining policy of the Nitish Kumar government to December 21. No reason was, however, cited for deferring the bandh. 

Yesterday, former deputy chief minister and the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, had announced that the bandh would be observed on December 18. 

Incidentally, the counting of votes for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls will be taken up on December 18.  Yadav had announced the date of the bandh at a march taken out by the RJD yesterday to protest the sand mining policy of the NDA government in the state. 

The Lalu Prasad-led RJD has been blaming the sand mining policy of the government for a "slump" in construction activities and the resultant loss of jobs among the workers, who were migrating to the other states in search of work. 

"A decision has been taken to observe a Bihar bandh on December 21, instead of December 18, as had been announced earlier. We appeal to all the sections of the society to support us as our fight is against a government which is indifferent to the plight of the common people and busy in self-publicity," RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said in a statement. 

The RJD march yesterday was dismissed by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who had alleged that Prasad's party was trying to "protect the sand mafia as it funded the party".