No ban on people carrying black cloth during yatra, Nitish

Bihar government had not banned people from carrying black cloth to the chief minister's 'Adhikar Yatra' and strict action would be taken against policemen if they had done so, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

"I have no problems with black cloth...in fact, I like black cloth...one cannot do without black cloth," he told reporters here.

"If you can show the DGP video footage of the police or any official taking off black cloth from people, strict action will be take against the person," he said.

The denial comes in the wake of media reports that district authorities were keeping all things black out of his public meetings in the backdrop of black flags being shown by contractual teachers during the Chief Minister's 'Adhikar Yatra', demanding special status demand for the state.

The Chief Minister also attacked the opposition for instigating violence during his 'Adhikar Yatra' and said that whosoever was behind the protest was known to everybody.

He said the demand by the contractual teachers for pay hike was not a new issue and these teachers had never raised the issue during his seva yatra earlier which was a government programme and questioned the timing of the agitation by the teachers during his 'Adhikar yatra', which was a purely JD(U) programme.

On the opposition's claim that his 'midas touch' had waned amid protests taking place across the state against the state government, Kumar said that he was never a magician.