“Nitish Kumar will address a workers’ meeting in Varanasi to launch Uttar Pradesh’s poll campaign with a focus on prohibition”, Bihar Mahila JD (U) president Kanchan Gupta told reporters.
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Under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s new term, observers say Bihar has become a classic case of chaos.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Varanasi visit could be a small but significant step in the search for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alternative at the national level.
“When Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) was fighting against the British, when freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad gave their lives for the country, they (BJP and RSS) were not there”. You were for Saffron flag, not for Tricolour. He quickly added: “We don’t need nationalism lessons from them”.
Rudy said the action, or rather the inaction, of the Nitish-led regime against the criminal elements had emboldned them to break the law.
“They promised to bring back black money in 100 days”. Nitish had managed to counter Modi’s brand of personality politics in Bihar with his clean image and proven track-record in governance, but managing the egos and political ambitions of friendly regional players is a different ball game. “Have they delivered?”, he said.
Nitish Kumar pointed out that Modi had in his 2014 Lok Sabha election speeches promised to give Rs.15 lakh of black money his government would bring home from overseas to every Indian. “Before elections, they speak one language and after election something else”. He said that he had banned liquor in Bihar on the specific demand of women.
He urged people in states going to the polls to choose “wisely”, rejecting those whose election promises remained unfulfilled even two years after Modi took office.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too, feels that the JD (U) does not have a popular following in UP and a BJP spokesman said the party was not unnecessarily anxious about any political challenge by Nitish Kumar in UP. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, will see assembly polls early next year.
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Targeting the BJP, Nitish questioned its silence on prohibition and asked why wasn’t it implemented in other BJP-ruled states like it was in Gujarat. Women also protested against liquor shops on the Bihar-UP border, and that voices in favour of prohibition were also rising in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. “Why don’t they (BJP) ban liquor in all-BJP ruled states?” His JD (U) will launch an anti-drinking campaign in UP from May 15, starting from Lucknow.
