Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on August 11 slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his statement in Parliament terming the Opposition block I.N.D.I.A. as “ghamandia (arrogant)”. The Bihar CM claimed that in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be finished.
Mr. Modi in Parliament on August 10 had also accused the Opposition of refusing to discuss Manipur separately for their own political ends despite the offer made by Home Minister Amit Shah.
“In 2024 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP will be finished from Bihar and that is why they are in panic. They only do propaganda now no development work is being done. Many political parties have moved forward after the Opposition unity started from Patna. All the political parties together will decide how to develop the country further. When we are uniting, they are facing problems,” Mr. Kumar said while speaking to reporters on the occasion of Martyr’s Day which is observed to pay homage to the sacrifice given by seven martyrs on 11th August 1942.
He accused the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for controlling the media, alleging that the Central government does not allow the Opposition voices to be heard on television nor allow them to get their words printed in the newspaper. Mr. Kumar pointed out that during the regime of Atal Bihar Vajpayee, the government used to answer the question but now only one-sided things are published in the media.
Continuing his blistering attack over Manipur, Mr. Kumar said that incidents are happening everywhere but no statement comes from the government and they speak whatever they like in their own way. He stated that the Central government should be working but the work is not being done.
“The Parliament proceeding goes on yet they remain silent, earlier this never happened when we were in the house,” Mr. Kumar added.
Asked about Central leaders taking the credit of doing work in Bihar, Mr. Kumar stressed that whatever work was done in Bihar, he has done it all. He reiterated that If Bihar would have got the special category status, then it would have developed a lot.
Making an indirect attack on BJP for their claims of Janata Dal (United) being a third number party in Bihar, Mr. Kumar gave a befitting reply saying that they should better check the 2005 results of Bihar Assembly. He indirectly attacked Chirag Paswan as well without naming him and termed him an agent of BJP.
“We won the elections in 2005, how many votes we got and how many votes BJP people got. What happened in the year 2010, we got 118 seats and how many seats they got, we got less seats. In the 2020 election, all efforts were made to defeat us by making other people stand against us as an agent. The public knows everything. After the 2020 elections, I did not want to become the Chief Minister and I had refused but they only forced me accept the post,” Mr. Kumar said.
He further reminded that in 2009 Lok Sabha polls when he was with BJP – the JD (U) contested on 25 seats and won 20 whereas BJP contested on 15 seats and won 12 seats. Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also took a dig at Mr. Modi claiming that his speech in the Parliament was not impressive.
“His speech in the Parliament was not impressive and people were really disappointed after listening to him because he has failed to speak anything substantial on the atrocities against women in Manipur, inflation and unemployment. During his entire speech he only spoke against the unity of the opposition and I.N.D.I.A. He is scared because the Opposition is uniting, he will not understand the googly of Opposition,”Mr. Yadav said.