‘DELHI OPTED FOR REAL NATIONALISM’

NEW DELHI: Delhi voters have shown the way by opting for “real nationalism” and the electorate in Bihar should emulate them to vote out Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has no qualms in taking off his “secular veil” on issues such as the CAA, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Sunday.

The onus of defeating the “divisive agenda” of the NDA government in Bihar also lies on the opposition that should provide a “formidable and unified” alternative, Yadav told PTI in an interview ahead of his ‘Berozgari Hatao Yatra’ starting on February 23 with a massive rally in Patna.

He said the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) was ready to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) against its “divisive agenda and 15 years of misrule” in the assembly polls.

“Nitish Kumar has never criticised the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), NPR (National Population Register) and the NRC (National Register for Citizens). He didn’t utter even a single word on the recent reservation issue. He doesn’t have any courage to criticise any of the BJP’S policies,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly said.

While the Janata Dal (United) helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in getting the citizenship bill passed in Parliament, Kumar only said his government will not implement the NRC in the state, Yadav said.

“Nitish Kumar is a cunning politician. He knows that once the BJP makes NRC an Act, he can do nothing but comply. Then he will cry over his helplessness in light of constitutional norms. His party could have made a difference during voting for the CAB in Parliament, but there he exhibited his true communal character,” the 30-year-old leader said.

The whole exercise of the CAA, NPR and the NRC is for dividing and polarising the nation on religious lines for political gains and Kumar has no qualms in shunning his “secular veil to show his true colours”, Yadav alleged.

Talking about the Delhi polls won by the Aam Aadmi Party comprehensively, Yadav said the message was loud and clear not only for the Bihar polls but also for the whole nation that if the government works for necessary amenities and social and financial security, then no diversion will work.

“Welfare of the citizens is real nationalism. Dividing people on communal lines is proving catastrophic for the nation. Youth is on the streets fighting, lynching and abusing. Union ministers are pushing the citizens to indulge in violence against those who are asking questions of the government,” the RJD leader said.

Union ministers are delivering veiled “incendiary and communal” speeches against citizens who are protesting, he said.

Voters of Delhi have shown the nation the right path and now it is up to the people of Bihar and the whole country to emulate them, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.

Delhi elections were assembly polls which should be fought on local and statelevel issues, but the way the BJP is trying to rake up national issues every time sets a “very dangerous precedent”, Yadav said.

For 15 years in power, Nitish Kumar kept on terming his rule as “sushasan (good governance) and misused state exchequer for filling the coffers of a few obliging media houses to project his image”, he alleged.

But with the advent of social media and online news platforms in Bihar, the reality of all claims of good governance in the state was exposed and the corruption of the government was out in the open, the RJD leader said.

He claimed that Kumar’s days as the chief minister and a politician are numbered as people will not stand “false propaganda” anymore.

“He (Kumar) has destroyed the education system, health services are in ICU, law and order has completely collapsed, his own MLAS, MPS, Union ministers are questioning the deteriorating law and order, farmers are dejected...and with all these failures he has failed the aspirational citizens of Bihar,” Yadav alleged.

“In such a gloomy situation, the only option that this government has is to play communal politics. And Nitish Kumar will ride the same communal bus, but this time communal and divisive politics will not bear any fruit,” he asserted.

Talking about his ‘Berozgari Hatao Yatra, Yadav said unemployment is the biggest issue that is bothering the educated youth as Bihar has the highest rate of unemployment in the country.

Bihar’s unemployment rate is so high that one or two members of almost every family have migrated to other states to find jobs, he claimed.