Manoj Chaurasia in Patna
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is now
making a strong pitch for getting special category status for his state, was
actually using all his might to scuttle the efforts of his predecessor, Rabri Devi, to realise the same demand.
The Opposition parties are now
digging up old newspaper clippings to expose the "double standard" of Kumar.
When the ruling Janata Dal
(United) is taking the campaign for special status for Bihar to a feverish
pitch, the RJD and the Congress have decided to hit back.
And it's RJD chief Lalu Prasad who
has taken it upon himself to orchestrate the move to "call the chief
minister's bluff ".
"We are going to circulate
copies of old newspaper clippings wherein then Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee during a rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan in February 2002 agreed to
seriously consider the special category status demand made by former chief
minister Rabri Devi. But, he later rejected it”, Prasad said. The RJD chief
alleged that the rejection was the outcome of pressure applied by Kumar who
was then railway minister of the Vajpayee government.
The RJD chief said he would go to
the masses armed with evidence and make them aware of how the chief minister
was "hoodwinking" the people. The Congress, too, has planned to
circulate copies of the speech of the former Prime Minister rejecting the
special category status demand and paste copies of the speech at all the block
headquarters across the state. The Congress was then a coalition partner in the
ruling RJD government in the state headed by Rabri Devi.
“The only one
responsible for Bihar not getting special status is the NDA government
and Nitish Kumar. The former Prime Minister declared in the presence of Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi during a rally at Gandhi Maidan that Bihar won't
be given special status. The news was covered by all the newspapers in Patna
the next day. We will now distribute copies of this speech among the masses and
expose the hollowness of the state chief minister's campaign,” the state
Congress president, Chaudhary Memboob Ali Kaiser, said.
Political circles say Kumar’s
demand for special category status is nothing more than a “political stunt” as
Bihar does not fulfil the criteria required to avail this facility. They say if
Bihar is granted the status, then other states too will make the same demand.
Eleven states which share international boundaries are inaccessible and
backward ~ both socially and economically~ due to their topography and as such
they can demand special status for themselves.
The Bihar chief minister
launched the campaign for special status through his month-long “Adhikar yatra”
from north Bihar’s West Champaran district to drum up support for the demand.
The yatra which is set to cover each of the 38 districts of Bihar will
culminate in a massive “Adhikar Rally” in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.
He is equating the question of
special status with Bihar's "pride and is gearing up for mobilising the
people to fight for their pride at the rally. “I am fighting to restore the
dignity of the people of Bihar by bringing the fruits of developments to your
doorstep so that you people do not have to go outside in search of jobs and
face insults”, the CM has been telling the masses at his rallies.
Explaining
the rationale behind this demand, he says the special category status would
mean tax recessions to industries which will attract huge investments in the
state leading to massive development. However, everything does not appear well
with the CM as wherever he has gone, he has received huge protests by unpaid
teachers and villagers.
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