Protesting the denial of special category status to Bihar as given to Seemandhra by the Centre, people from Bihar will beat utensils during the Bihar bandh on March 2. “The unity of people for the issue will make people in Delhi realise that till they grant special category status, citizens of Bihar will not let them sleep,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said while speaking at a programme in Patna last evening.
Mr.Kumar, who called the shutdown, has appealed to people to come out of their homes at 6:00 pm on March 2 and beat utensils as during the ‘JP movement’. “We will not ask anybody to observe a bandh on March 2, but people themselves will spare a day for the cause of Bihar and shun work to protest,” Mr.Kumar said. A disciple of Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan, Mr.Kumar was a prominent figure in the ‘Sampoorna Kranti’ (total revolution) of JP that started from Bihar and spread across the country. State JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh said beating utensils was a prominent programme during JP’s movement against ‘Congress misrule’ at the time. Mr. Singh, a product of JP movement, told PTI that JD(U) grassroots workers would also launch programmes such as torchlight processions and ‘prabhat ferries’ (morning marches) on the day.
