Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a mega-rally in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur today (November 5), his first after the caste-survey data was published by the Nitish Kumar government last month. His visit comes for the first time after the Nitish government put out the data of the caste-based survey on October 2.
Amit Shah takes on Nitish Kumar
Amit Shah slammed Nitish Kumar for forging an alliance with the RJD and Lalu Yadav and said that the JDU supremo came to power earlier practicing anti-Lalu politics, and now he is "sitting in his lap".
"The INDI alliance only has one agenda which is to oppose Narendra Modi. When they were in power, they did scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore. Nitish Kumar, who opposed corruption, is now taking pleasure of power with these people. Nitish Kumar, you should be ashamed. You did anti-Lalu politics, today you are sitting in his lap," Shah said.
Shah said that the Centre has left no stone unturned for the development in Bihar and compared the fund allocated by the Centre during the Modi rule as against Manmohan Singh government.
"The central government has left no stone unturned for the development of Bihar. During the Sonia-Manmohan government, when Lalu Yadav was the minister Bihar was given Rs 1 lakh 50 crore in ten years. While PM Modi in nine years gave Rs 6 lakh crore for the development of the state," he said.
"Nitish Kumar got no way out"
Shah claimed Nitish Kumar is struggling with Lalu and wants to leave, but he is unable to find a way out.
"Do you want those who did 2G scam or Narendra Modi who gave 5G? These are people running family shops, one wants to become the Prime Minister and the other wants to make his son the Chief Minister. Nitish Kumar, forget about the Prime Minister post, the INDI alliance did not even make you convener. You do not belong anywhere. You will see ahead what Lalu does to you. Now you are struggling. You want to leave but there is no way out. Sometimes he abuses Congress, sometimes he skips a programme. But he has got no way ahead of him," he said.
Shah slams Congress over caste survey
The Home Minister alleged that Congress always opposed the backward society whereas PM Modi always respected them.
"There are two types of 'JAM'. For BJP, JAM - Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar and Mobile. For the Bihar government, JAM - 'Jativad' and 'Parivarvad', 'Apradh', and Minority appeasement...The alliance partners call themselves the well-wishers of backward classes... The decision to conduct the survey was taken when the BJP was a part of Nitish Kumar's government...Congress always boycotted and opposed the backward society. Whereas PM Modi always respected the backward society," he said.
What did Bihar caste survey show?
The survey showed that OBCs and EBCs constituted over 60 per cent of the state’s total population. The upper castes were close to 10 per cent, according to the census. The BJP questioned the accuracy of the survey.
The Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha seat, where Shah addressed a rally today is currently held by BJP’s Ajay Nishad. In 2019, the BJP-led NDA of which JDU was a part then, had won 39 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, barring Kishanganj, which was won by the Congress.
(With PTI inputs)
