Crossing the state boundaries and braving the scorching heat, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar kicked off his ‘Mission UP’ addressing a state political workers’ conference at Janata Dal (United) at National Inter College at Pindra, about 30 kms from the city on Jaunpur road here on Thursday and targeted his all guns on the prime minister Narendra Modi.
Surprising, unlike all the claims of JD(U), that the Bihar CM challenged to Modi right from his parliamentary constituency but the area he had selected for the conference is not falling in Varanasi parliamentary seat, but it is a part of Machhalishar (Jaunpur) parliamentary seat. Pindra is the only assembly seat out of eight in Varanasi which was claimed by Congress in last election in 2012 and its MlA Ajay Rai, who was booked under NSA, was released recently. Besides, it is also the area which is dominated by Kurmis, an OBC sub-caste from which Nitish himself belongs.
However, addressing an impressive gathering there, Nitish said that the BJP has become an egoist making mockery of other which has become the habit of the party. “When assembly elections were being held in Bihar and RJD, JD (U) and Congress had formed ‘Mahagatbandhan’, the BJP leaders had made a lot of mockery of that alliance but by giving their thumping victory the Biharis had taught a lesson to the BJP,” he said.
Going further and making a scathing attack on Modi, he said that just two years ago the people of the country had given majority government to the BJP at the centre but now the people of Varanasi have started realizing that what they had done mistake by voting Modi to the power. He appealed to the people to understand the real faces of the BJP what they claimed and what they did in the same manner as recently Mahagatbandhan had given lesson to the BJP in Bihar.
He asked the prime minister what was done about bringing black money back into the country and giving Rs 15 lakhs each to every countryman. “We had asked the BJP that if they did not give Rs 15 lakhs, just to give Rs 10,000-15,000 to the account of every citizen,” he said in satiric style. He also flayed the BJP president Amit Shah for terming the same as a ‘Jumla’ and nothing else.
Wooing the farmers in this rural area, Nitish said that the prime minister had made pre-poll promises that the farmers would be given 50 percent benefits along with their concurrent crop prices but all these promises proved a farce only. He said that the people of Bihar had given him a huge support and expressed hope that the same would be received by the alliance in UP. He said that he came here to expose the real faces of Modi and his BJP.
launching attacks on RSS, he said that the Sangh Parivar had made a lot of propaganda over beef and home return issues during electioneering in Bihar. Not only this, the RSS had also raised the issues of patriotism, he said, asking the Sangh Parivar to inform the people how much they had contributed during the freedom struggle. He said that the RSS and BJP which always made attempts to saffronise the system are now trying to create controversies over the tri-colour.
The meeting was also addressed JD (U) MP from Rajya Sabha and former chief Sarad Yadav and many others. For the last many days, dozens of Bihar ministers and senior JD-U leaders were in the city making contracts with several sections of the society in their bid to make the party’s programme a success. The function was also attended by hundreds of people came here from adjoining districts of Bihar. Nitish Kumar is in the city on his two days visit and after staying here tonight he would offer Ganga-puja before leaving the city for Patna by state plane. He came here by road and at Circuit House he was given ‘Guard of Honour’ by the security personnel. The function was also attended by district magistrate and others.