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| Nitish Returns Money; Faces Barrage of Criticism |
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( 3 Votes )
| Sunday, 20 June 2010 19:59 | |||
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Still seething with anger over the poster containing his picture holding hand with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in Ludhiana nearly a year ago, Kumar, who had, in a state of anger a week ago when his NDA partner in Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was holding its national executive meet in Patna, announced his decision to return the money to Gujarat, stuck to his words and returned the money on Saturday. "Bihar is capable enough to help its own people in a time of emergency. We do not need money from other states," the Chief Minister said inviting a flood of criticism from both his BJP allies and the opposition leaders. "If Nitish Kumar is capable of handling any situation without the help of other states then he needs to return the money to every single state and private organizations that opened up their coffer to help Bihar during the 2008 flood of epic proportion," an extremely agitated Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the PHED Minister and BJP leader, said. Devesh Chandra Thakur, the state Emergency and Disaster Management Minister, however, justified the Chief Minister's move saying Narendra Modi was boasting about his Rs. 5 crore aid to Bihar forcing Nitish Kumar to take this drastic step of returning the money. BJP leaders Sanjay Mayukh and Mangal Pandey, however, contradicted Thakur's claim saying Modi had never said a word about the Rs. 5 crore and the JD-U was making up things to justify Kumar's actions. "Narendra Modi could not have been more gracious to the people of Bihar during his recent speech in Patna. He even acknowledged the help and emotional support he received from the people of Bihar during the Gujarat earthquake in 2001," Mayukh said. Today's development has further strained ties between the two NDA partners as BJP leaders in Patna demanded from its top leaders to break its alliance with the Janata Dal – U that, they said, was acting as if the BJP had no role in the success of Nitish Kumar or in the development of the state in the last four and a half years. While Thakur insisted that the returning of money to Gujarat will have no impact on the BJP-JDU relationship, others were not so certain. "The central leadership has taken this matter very seriously and is considering its options," Dr. Thakur said. The common theme against all the criticisms against Nitish Kumar was that the money sent from Gujarat to Bihar did not belong to either Modi or Kumar. Instead, it belonged to the people of the two states and Nitish Kumar had no authority or moral right to return the money without first consulting the people of Bihar. "This is a slap on the face of the BJP and we are not going to just roll over and play dead," Choubey thundered. Former Central Minister and BJP leader Sanjay Paswan said that Nitish Kumar's action was by far the most humiliating thing that had happened to Bihar in years and the Chief Minister should step down from his position. Paswan also slammed BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav for keeping total mum on the subject. "These people have completely surrendered before Nitish Kumar and have forgotten that their loyalty first belongs to the BJP and then to the JD-U," Paswan said urging all BJP leaders to resign from the Nitish cabinet immediately. Patna Saheb MP Shatrughan Sinha, who was a no show at the BJP executive meeting in Patna, also asked the party leadership to break its ties with the JD-U saying Nitish Kumar had become too smug and arrogant and was acting as if he and he alone had changed the course of Bihar and the BJP had no contribution in it.
"The Chief Minister is making a mountain out of a molehill and it would have severe negative impact on the future of Bihar politics," Singh said. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders were not too far behind in picking on Nitish Kumar and the entire NDA. "Nitish Kumar can do whatever he wants but people are not going to forget that he is a BJP sympathizer. All this shenanigan of returning the money is just a political stunt to win the Muslim votes in Bihar but people are not that stupid. He has depended on the BJP to acquire power in Bihar and he will always be seen as a BJP ally with no secular standing," RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said at a press conference in Patna on Saturday. "Bihar also received a train-full of relief materials from Gujarat so why is the Chief Minister not returning them to Gujarat as well?" Yadav wanted to know. Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay also dubbed Nitish Kumar's actions as a political drama designed to fool the Muslims of Bihar. Similar/Related Articles
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Comments
Even today those problems persist: Bihar was partitioned and made a state of anarchy, loot, kidnapping, and stagnation. Was it not in the name of secularisms as well? What did this word do to a common Bihari? They were forced to seek livelihood outside the state. Businessmen and doctors fled away to safer places. Jungle raj persisted.
Now, when Bihar is experiencing a change in the way of life and when a fresh air has started wafting up, with the help of JD (U) and BJP, there should be no issue other than good governance and development of the state. Tackling of these two issues in a right manner has made Nitish a hero. But if he gets tipsy in his own achievements and starts throwing tantrums, like the one he has just done by returning the aid given by the Gujarat people to the people of Bihar, then he is negating the gains he has made.
By wearing a special cap one cannot become secular. He need not get into puerile controversy as to whether or not he is a secular. This election was not fought on this issue. It was fought on the issue of good governance and development (VIKAS). The debate on secularism is a brain child of Congress and is meant to befool a section of people. No one should fall in that trap. Basically Biharis are inborn secular. There is no need to pep up for the sake of getting votes by fanning hatred on the basis of something that really does not exist. What exists in Bihar is lethargy, anarchy, slothfulness, arrogance of the rich towards the poor, and exploitation on the basis of caste. These banes have to be done away with. But what is happening is that these vices are nurtured and an insignificant matter is blown out of proportion to divert the attention of the common masses.
You can shake hands with MAOWADI and yet remain nonviolent. Modi keeps his views you keep yours. But that does not mean that you bypass the basic courtesy. You represent Bihar, but please do not assume that Bihar is your personal property. Sometime ago, Indian cricketers were jeered at and attacked in Moinul Haq stadium by some fans. This time around a chief minister shows disrespect to some guests in the name of secularism.
Aid is not dowry. Many Biharis go to Dubai, Punjab, Kerala, Mumbai, and Gujarat. Where does it hurt our pride?
Don’t do something that may in the long run precipitate you in the lap of Congress boss.
If he thinks that the BJP had nothing to do with the changes in Bihar then it is clear that all the media attention to him has gone to his head. Time to show him the door.
One thing is for sure, Nitish can never match the economic genius of Narendra Modi. This is not based on some party ideology but pure economic numbers. See where Gujarat is and where Bihar is in economic terms. Nitish is a hypocrite. Case closed.
Till the time there was juice to be extracted from them they kept them like allies. As soon as all the juice was extracted, they threw them in the waste basket.
BJP is so soft in dealing with allies they are not assertive and in all the state they have allies, they almost given them free hand and themselves have taken the back seat to the extent that people forget that BJP is politically significant in these state. They have handed over the state BJP unit to weak leaders who cannot stand up to the allies.
In more than 10 years they were allies with BJD in Orissa they could not pop up a decent leadership in the state. Same is the case in West Bengal, Andhra, Maharastra and UP and now in Bihar.
Why is BJP not assertive with Nitish? Why is Nitish taking all the decisions? If BJP is equal partner in the govt then how can Nitish take decision on his own to return the fund?
Nitish has done good work in Bihar but he should understand that BJP has supported him when he was nothing. Nitish was in govt when Gujarat riots happened. Why did he not resign then?
If he is an honorable man then he should come clean and inform BJP in a proper way that he does not want to be a part of the NDA and stop humiliating the BJP by finding trivial issues and playing dirty politics.
My roots are in Bihar and I feel ashamed when I see Nitish behaving in the same manner as Lalu. I always use to hear absolute power corrupts mind; now I can see it. It has turned a well educated and well mannered Nitish into an ordinary power hungry politician.
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