IMAMGANJ (GAYA), MAY 6: Having resigned en mass in Bihar’s Gaya district last Sunday alleging police repression, the ruling party leaders have admitted that they had taken that step as directed by the Naxal outfit, CPI(Maoist).

“They had directed us to gather in the ground of the local college on Sunday afternoon and make a public announcement of our resignations, and we followed it. We were compelled to do so as we know that Nitish Kumar’s administration cannot save us from the Maoists here,” Sanjay Prasad, JD(U)’s Imamganj block president, told The Indian Express. Prasad was among the 64 JD(U) and BJP leaders from three blocks of Imamganj Assembly segment who had quit their party posts.

Last Sunday, the open ground of Sanjay Gandhi Intermediate College facing two important symbols of state authority — the police station and a CRPF camp — had seen 64 khadi-clad politicians gathering in a row and announcing their resignations. Though there was no big crowd, local reporters and onlookers were present to witness the helplessness of politicians said to be in power.

So what led the Maoists to make the politicians submit to their diktat? On April 27, police had raided Pakri village and nabbed eight persons from the wedding of a Maoist area commander's sister, suspecting them to be Maoists. Later, they released five of them due to lack of evidence but arrested three after identifying them as important Maoist leaders.

The arrest of their leaders came as a big blow to the Maoists, and they summoned over a dozen local JD(U) and BJP leaders in their forest hideout. They were asked to resign alleging police repression on innocent villagers in a bid to exert pressure on the police to get their comrades released.

On April 29, local newspapers reported about the Maoist diktat asking all the local leaders to quit. “I read the news and after inquiries found that it was true. Thereafter, I consulted my colleagues and then decided to accept the diktat,” said Srikant Prasad, who resigned as block general secretary of the JD(U).

Following the CM directive, IG (Patna zone) Sunil Kumar was in Imamganj on Tuesday to probe the allegations about police excesses levelled by the ruling party leaders. He was surprised to know that they had put in their papers under the Naxal threat. “So far, no one has alleged police excesses,” Kumar said.

Naxals in Imamganj Assembly segment of Gaya district wield considerable influence and it is well known that no aspiring politician from the area can win an election without their support. During the last general election, a popular LJP candidate, Rajesh Kumar, was killed in Imamganj by the Naxals as he had tried to maintain safe distance from them. Imamganj Assembly segment is represented by Speaker of the state Assembly Uday Narayan Chaudhary.

“There is no semblance of Nitish Kumar’s good governance in Imamganj. Here we are dependent on the Naxals for our survival,” said JD(U) leader Sanjay Prasad.

Sources said the Moaists were planning to force more resignations from parties like the RJD and the Congress to exhibit their might.