Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pursuing double standards in policies towards Bihar and said that “factories are set up in Gujarat but victory is sought in Bihar” as he wound up his 5-day Bihar Adhikar Yatra that covered 28 Assembly constituencies in 11 districts.
“PM Modi sets up factories in Gujarat and wants victory in Bihar. This would not be tolerated anymore,” Yadav said, while addressing a big crowd at Sarairanjan (Samastipur) in course of his day-long road trip from Samastipur to Vaishali. Yadav, who is seen as positioning himself as the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial face, has been maintaining that Bihar is being ignored in terms of fomenting industrialisation and infrastructure development and the state’s value is deemed by politicians as only politics-oriented. He alleged that people of Bihar are used for political gains by politicians and left in the lurch when it comes to arrange employment and economic uplift for them.
“We want to generate employment in the state and also end migration. I assure that once we come to power, all youths having degrees would get jobs,” Yadav stressed. The yatra , which started on September 16 from Jehanabad, concluded at Sindubari , 4 km from Hajpur town, in the evening on Saturday. Yadav addressed around 30 public meetings covering 28 state assemblies spanning across 11 districts in last five days, party officials said.
In course of his yatra on Saturday, Yadav today also took swipes at Union home minister Amit Shah for the latter’s recent statemen that the young Yadav scion would not even think of contesting polls in the future as the NDA would have massive majority in Bihar assembly. “I want to tell Amit Shah ji that I do not fear his hollow threats. I am the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who had arrested BJP patriarch and former deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani . I have got strength from people of the state,” Yadav said, amidst loud cheering from the crowd at other rallies in Vaishali.
Significantly, The former deputy CM also hit out hard against chief minister Nitish Kumar led government, alleging the present NDA dispensation had ‘cheated’ people of Bihar for last 20 years with perennial problems in the state like unemployment, migration, lack of industrial growth remaining unaddressed. “ Has there been any development in the state? The NDA government has only cheated people. Corruption is rampant while law and order has nosedived in the state with criminals getting emboldened. Bureaucrats are running the government in Bihar,” Yadav said.
“Humari Sarkar Dawai, Sinchai, Padhai, Karawahi, Sunwahi ki hogi. Hum log har varga ke liye kaam karengey ( Our government would be committed for improvement in irrigation, education, health and redressal of grievances of common people. We will work for all sections of people),” the RJD leader also stressed during his public meetings, in an apparent bid to send across a message that RJD and INDIA bloc opposition coalition believes in inclusiveness and empowerment of people transcending caste and religion.
Of course, Yadav also emphasised that public mood in Bihar was in favor for change in dispensation and exhorted his supporters to vote for the opposition INDIA bloc and RJD so that the present NDA government could be ousted in the forthcoming polls. “I know you all want change. So, vote for us this time to oust the NDA government,” Yadav said at Mahua , a stronghold of the RJD.
The 35 year old Yadav scion , who is chairman of the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc in Bihar, is projecting himself as the chief ministerial face of the bloc even though a formal announcement has not yet been made by the coalition partners, which has caused much discomfiture to the RJD top brass .
There are already speculations that Congress, being an important ally, is delaying a formal announcement about the CM face of the bloc to bargain hard with RJD for getting a good seat sharing deal, seeking more than 70 seats it contested in the 2020 assembly polls. The left parties mainly CPI-ML(liberation) is seeking 40 seats while CPI and CPM are demanding 10 seats each. The RJD on its part is not keen on contesting less than 135 seats as against 144 seats, it contested in last 2020 polls.
As the five day-long road trip of Yadav came to end, party functionaries claimed the yatra in many ways has send across a message that RJD remains the key constituent in the INDIA bloc in Bihar or Mahagathbandhan having a mass base and the main opposition party having the potential to play a decisive role in dislodging the NDA government of CM Kumar.
Party leaders also said that Tejashwi is receiving big response and the yatra was reflection of the popularity of the 35-year-old former deputy CM and it also had given RJD an edge to bargain hard with allies on an amicable seat sharing arrangement.
“The massive response Tejashwi has got in the five-day trip from people of Bihar especially youths only indicate that the RJD has a mass base and it’s a signal for all allies in the bloc that an amicable seat sharing deal would be beneficial for the entire INDIA bloc to defeat the BJP-JD(U) combine,” said a senior RJD leader. Chittaranjan Gagan, RJD state spokesperson too expressed the big crowds witnessed during the Bihar Adhikar yatra were indications how public mood was in favour of the RJD and Mahagathbandhan.
On the other hand, BJP and JD(U) have dubbed the RJD’s yatra as a futile exercise emphasing that people in Bihar have already tasted development and they will be influenced by RJD’s hollow promises of improving education and health. “Tejashwi’s yatra has reminded people how during RJD rule, there used to be initiatives like ‘Charwaha Vidyalaya’ and there used to be no teachers in schools. It only had brought ridicule for the state, In NDA government, people have seen progress in the state . People have always rejected RJD and they would do the same in coming polls,” said BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel.
