The Bihar Police on Saturday arrested Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jawahar Prasad for allegedly inciting violence in Sasaram town during a procession on the Hindu festival of Ram Navami on March 31, ANI reported.

Prasad, a five-time former MLA, was among the 63 persons arrested in connection with the violence.

Clashes between Hindus and Muslims were reported in several parts of Bihar during Ram Navami festivities. Besides Sasaram, violence was reported in Rohtas, Biharsharif, Nalanda, Bhagalpur, Gaya and Munger.

Vehicles, houses as well as shops were set on fire and several people were injured. One person died in the violence in Biharsharif.

On Saturday, Rohtas Superintendent of Police Vineet Kumar said that Prasad was arrested after investigation showed that he was involved in the communal violence, according to The Indian Express.

The BJP alleged that Prasad’s arrest was part of the Nitish Kumar government’s “minority appeasement politics”.

“We are not surprised because the CM [Nitish Kumar] had decided beforehand that the violence was a political conspiracy even before the primary investigation was done,” BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, according to the newspaper.

BJP’s National General Secretary (Other Backward Class) Nikhil Anand said that Prasad had been made a scapegoat by the Bihar government.

“Prasad is a backward [community] leader…” he said, reported The Indian Express. “The government wants to book him and other subaltern leaders as culprits. The Bihar government is going to such depths to play politics of Muslim appeasement.”

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, however, dismissed the allegations.“The police are doing their job,” he said. “All those involved, irrespective of party affiliations, will be arrested.”