THE CPI(ML) organized a bandh on 4 January 2017 in the Koshi-Seemanchal zone to protest the brutal killings of Comrades Satyanarayan and Kamleshwari in Araria and Chano Ram and Vakil Ram in Saharsa. Road blockades were held the same day in all parts of Bihar demanding

1. A high level judicial enquiry into the incident to expose the politician-police-bureaucrat nexus;


2. Arrest without delay of Babua Yadav, Manish Yadav, Ramu Yadav, Manoj Rai alias Surendra Yadav and the other accused men;


3. Confiscation and distribution to the Musahar community of all disputed government lands;


4. Rs 20 lakh compensation to the deceased victims’ families;


5. Rs 5 lakh compensation to each of the injured;


6. Immediate dismissal and arrest of the Bhargama thana in-charge and action against Forbesganj Block Officer and DSP;


7. Implementation of land ceiling in the Koshi-Seemanchal zone;


8. Seizure of all public, ceiling surplus and bhoodan lands occupied forcefully or deceitfully by the rich and powerful


9. Distribution of Bhoodan and government lands among the landless poor; and


10. A special tribunal for ascertaining the ancestral rights of sikmidars (permanent tenancy, in which a person shares occupancy rights on the tilled land).

The bandh was historic and thousands of people thronged into the streets of Araria town where the National Highway and many places in the market remained blocked for hours. In Purnea, Girija Chowk and RN Shah Chowk were blocked and traffic in the city was fully jammed. Roads in Saharsa were blocked for several hours. Saharsa-Madhepura by-pass road near Shivpuri Dhala remained blockaded for hours and traffic was halted.

In Patna CPI(ML) activists jammed Chitkohra Golambar for hours. Addressing the rally, party leaders Dhirendra Jha and Amar said that RJD, JD(U), and BJP were all protecting and encouraging feudal forces. They demanded the arrest of the thana in-charge and BJP-RJD-backed goons.

Roads were blocked and effigies of Nitish Kumar burnt in Masaurhi, Dhanrua and Paliganj areas of Patna district. Protests were held in Jehanabad district and the road in Arwal was blocked for hours. In Bhojpur the Ara bus stand was fully jammed. Blockades were held in Isarhi Bazaar, Piro and Narayanpur Pavna.

NH 31 was blocked for 2 hours at Beguserai. Blockades were also held in Eastern Champaran, Sikta, Maintand, Gaunaha, Betiya, Narkatiyaganj, Samastipur, Darbhanga, and other places. NH 28 was blocked by activists led by the Tajpur block committee of the Party. Mathurapur ghat, Warisnagar thana chowk, and Gopalganj national highway were also blocked for hours. Chakka jam and protests were held at JP Chowk, Siwan, Bandara block, Muzaffarpur, Pilkhi NH 57 (Simra), Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga NH 57 at Etwarpur in Bochaha block, Muzaffarpur-Pusa road in Musahari block, Maleynagar, Laheyaganj in Madhubani. Protest marches and effigy burnings took place at Hilsa, Islampur, and Biharsharif in Nalanda, Ghoghri in Khagariya, and the new by-pass road, Masjid Chowk, Gandhi Chowk in Vaishali. NH 31 near Vidhupur was blocked for hours by Party activists.