New Delhi, Mar 29 (NIE): After communal clashes broke out in several areas in Bihar over the past week, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav blamed his former ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and reportedly said he was “finished”.

“Nitish Kumar is now finished. There are riots and incidents of violence all over Bihar. BJP has set the whole state ablaze,” ANI quoted Yadav as saying to reporters outside AIIMS New Delhi where he has been brought in for a treatment.

A day earlier, members of two communities clashed in Bihar’s Nalanda district over taking out a religious procession injuring more than 20 people — including four security personnel, PTI reported. Nalanda is also the native district of CM Nitish Kumar.

“People from both sides indulged in heavy stone-pelting in Silao block of the district following a dispute over the route of a Ram Navami procession, and police had to resort to a mild use of force besides firing tear gas shells to quell the mobs,” Superintendent of Police, Nalanda, Sudhir Kumar Porika told PTI.

Communal clashes have erupted in several districts like Bhagalpur and Aurangabad since Ram Navami last Sunday. At least three FIRs have been lodged and 150 people have been arrested in connection with violence in Aurangabad during Ram Navami celebrations on March 25 and 26. Bihar Police has also set up two special investigation teams to probe the violence, in which half a dozen people were injured and around 35 shops gutted.

The RJD and Congress have blamed the spurt in such incidents on the alleged dominance of BJP in the state which allied with JD(U) last year. It also demanded the arrest of BJP’s Aurangabad MP Sushil Kumar Singh for saying on March 26 that “there is a reaction to an action”. The MP told The Indian Express: “I said it in the context of stone-pelting triggering torching of shops. I am being quoted out of context. I have explained my position to Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi.”