Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday met a 12-year-old boy who alleged that he was assaulted by a group of youths after filming mustard-oil lamps lit in Patna during an event marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday on September 17.
Yadav alleged that supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manhandled the child and that police subsequently pressured him to alter his statement. The BJP rejected the allegations, with party spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel describing the video containing the boy's claims as fabricated.
The incident comes amid the political dispute over the 'Aashirwad Ka Diya' programme organised in Bihar for Modi's birthday. The BJP had appealed to people to light lamps as part of its month-long 'Seva Sankalp Abhiyan', while the programme was also held at Patna's JP Ganga Path.
Boy alleges assault over video
During his interaction with Yadav, the boy described how he was allegedly manhandled by some youths at the site and subsequently pushed off a railing.
In a video posted by Yadav, the boy alleged that he had been assaulted on September 17 after making a video questioning the alleged wastage of mustard oil being used to light the diyas.
"The kind of oil consumed in lighting diyas would have enough for us to make puris for my entire village. I just made a video and was assaulted by the party men of BJP. The BJP party men assaulted me and later the administration also came and took me off," the boy said in the video.
The boy claimed that he is a student of standard five and lives in a locality in Patna. He also said that academic activities in his village had been affected by the recent floods.
Yadav assured the child that action would be taken against those found responsible.
"We will take action and ensure that those involved in the incident are punished," the RJD leader told him.
Tejashwi Yadav alleges police pressure
Yadav alleged that police later pressured the boy to state that the youths who had allegedly manhandled him were his friends and that they worked together for the BJP.
He further alleged that the child was intimidated into saying that there had been no assault, with police allegedly warning him that he would have to spend a night at the police station otherwise.
"This is the situation in Bihar where a 12 year old boy is assaulted by BJP sponsored goons and even locked up in police station for just making a video of lamps lit by mustard oil to mark PM's birthday," Yadav said.
The allegations have not been independently established.
Digha police station SHO Avnish Kumar, however, said no boy had been detained on September 17 in connection with any assault case at Marine Drive. He also said that no such complaint had been filed.
Patna Superintendent of Police (Central) Mamata Kalayani could not be reached for comment.
BJP rejects allegations as fabricated
BJP state spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel rejected the allegations and said the video of the boy's claims was "totally false" and created with malicious intent to defame the party.
"The opposition leader should behave more maturely instead of trying to get some publicity out of certain fabricated videos," Patel said.
He also accused Yadav of spending limited time in his constituency during the floods and said the RJD leader should instead visit flood-hit areas more frequently.
Patel further alleged that Yadav was making "baseless allegations" because he was concerned about the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
The controversy follows Yadav's criticism of the lamp-lighting programme earlier this week. He had questioned the reported expenditure on the celebrations at a time when Bihar was dealing with severe flooding. The BJP's birthday initiative, however, was presented as part of its wider 'Seva Sankalp Abhiyan', which began on September 17 and is scheduled to continue for a month.