Commenting on the reactions in political circles over his Saturday remark that all parties should close ranks against the BJP to eliminate the ideologies of the Sangh, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the way the BJP leaders were reacting only showed that they were scared of even an idea of unity among non-BJP parties particularly after the experience in Bihar Assembly polls.
“They (BJP) fully understand what would be the result if the non-BJP parties have sort of understanding and alliance in other States and on the national level. The desperate statements of some leaders showed my statement hit them hard and they are scared of the opposition unity. Everybody knows what happened in Bihar when only three parties made an alliance,” Nitish said while talking to media people on the sidelines of his janata darbar on Monday.
Nitish, who is also national president of JD(U), said unity among parties — including Congress and left — does not mean merger but maximum possible unity, understanding and alliance. “This is my personal opinion and we are countering Sangh ideologically and politically. We are against the ideologies of the Sangh including RSS and BJP. They preach divisive ideologies and want to divide the society and the country and mislead people with their slogans and rumours. For the unity of the country mutual understanding and harmony and tolerance is must,” he added.
Asked why his party continued alliance with the BJP for a longer time, Nitish explained that his party joined the NDA on certain condition, one of them was that BJP would not rake up controversial issues like Article 370, Ayodhya, common civil code etc. He said the BJP leadership adhered to coalition dharma and did not touch these issues until the change of guard in the party. “When we felt that BJP was deviating from its mutually agreed principles we decided to p[-art ways and ours decision was right. We refused to subscribe to their ideologies,” said the JD(U) president.
On the issue of party’s Rajya Sabha member Anil Sahni, whose prosecution has been sanctioned by the chairman of the Upper House in a corruption case of travel allowance, Nitish said he should have resigned from the parliament after the CBI’s chargesheet and prosecution sanction by the Vice President. “The stand of our party is very clear. This is a question of ethics and if the parliamentary panel strip him of his membership it will be very logical. If he refuses to resign, the party will act,” said Nitish.
The CM was unhappy over the attitude of some neighbouring State Government in response to his total prohibition in Bihar and said there were reports that the Governments were issuing new licenses for opening liquor shops on border areas. He said, “I took a brave initiative and they should help us. The people in those States have started demanding total prohibition on the lines of Bihar and the Governments would not be in a position to suppress such demands.” He also said that on the invitation of some organizations he would go to UP, Jharkhand and Odisha to extend moral support to their demand.