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BJP fact-finding team demands Rabri's dismissal

The three-member fact-finding committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party that visited Shankerbigha village in Jehanabad district of Bihar, where 23 dalits were massacred, has said the incident establishes the "complete collapse" of law and order and the "breakdown" of the constitutional machinery in the state.

"It is a matter of serious concern, the way innocent children, women and men were butchered at Shankerbigha on January 25," the committee said in its report.

It demanded that the Rabri Devi government be dismissed and President's rule be imposed on the state.

It said the massacre took place in the same district which had seen the worst massacre last year when 61 dalits were killed in Lakshmanpur Bathe village. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited the site then and urged the state government to take stringent measures to check the recurrence of such incidents.

"Unfortunately, the Bihar government does not evince any interest to tackle this social problem. On the contrary, it promotes social tension by encouraging caste conflicts to nurse its political interests," it said.

In the last 18 months' rule by the present regime, the state has witnessed several massacres, with the maximum number in Jehanabad district, the committee said.

UNI

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