Taking their bonhomie to the next level, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD president lalu Prasad today shared dais at a meeting of extremely backward castes (EBC), appealing to them to "stay united" and remain cautious as BJP "will try to create rift among them".
"Remain together and stay united so that nobody is able to ignore you (EBC). A time will come when you will become the axis, while others will revolve around you," Kumar said while addressing the political meeting central government policies here.
Cautioning them, the Bihar Chief Minister said, "BJP will make efforts to set you against each other, and will try to create rift among you all. It is a divisive party and tries to break the society on the basis of religion and castes. But we should maintain peace and harmony in the society."
As the audience applauded, Kumar remarked their enthusiasm made him feel that this time the saffron party would not succeed in misleading them during the Assembly elections like it had managed to do during lok Sabha polls in 2014.
"People have started feeling that they committed mistake during the lok Sabha polls by brining BJP to power. They will not be misled anymore," he added
The Chief Minister pointed out that BJP tried to create an environment of doubt regarding him and Prasad. It talked about absence of one person's photo from posters and raised question as to how he went with Prasad.
"We not only forged an alliance, but also went ahead with seat distribution for the upcoming Assembly elections, made joint programmes and even finalised 'Swabhiman Rally' on August 30," Kumar added.
Speaking on the occasion, Prasad claimed that communal and divisive forces were trying to capture power in Bihar by taking advantage of internal divisions and rifts among people.
"We will lose the state to them if we become slack on this front. The coming polls are not a question of Kumar becoming the CM. It is a question of saving the country. The entire nation is watching us, and has great expectations from us," Prasad said.
The RJD chief cautioned the audience that the country has been enslaved whenever people have been divided, and it was time to unite against BJP and stop it.
"See what things Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his speech at Muzaffarpur. He talked about RJD rule as 'jungle raj'. He questioned the blood and DNA of Kumar. A CM is the custodian, guardian of the entire state and by doing so, Modi insulted the people of Bihar," Prasad said.
"It is time to unite to send BJP-RSS packing to the place from where they have come. We will conduct their 'ghar wapsi'. But we have to remain awake and aware about the illusions created by them," Prasad added.
The RJD chief, who ruled the state from 1990 to 1997 pointed out that the saffron party had thought that Kumar was alone so it could say anything and get away with it.
"But now he (Kumar) is not alone. I am sitting with him. We are organising 'Swabhiman Rally' and sound the bugle against communal forces on that day. Come unitedly and hiss loudly so that BJP and Modi run away from Bihar. We will go on to remove BJP from Delhi also," he added.
This was the second joint appearance by Kumar and Prasad, after they held a press conference yesterday to announce the sharing of seats. Prasad took potshots at BJP for not declaring its chief ministerial candidate and challenged it to do so.
"If there is any person capable of becoming CM, the BJP should present him before everybody. Otherwise, it should accept that it is 'issueless' (childless) party," Prasad said with a twinkle.
The rustic RJD leader also poked fun at BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and called him a "stepney" (spare tyre) of Kumar.
The RJD chief also reiterated his demand for the release of caste census data and said BJP was trying to brush it under the carpet with an intention to deprive the downtrodden of an enhanced rate of reservation.
Prasad pointed out that the socio-economic caste census reveals that every third family in villages is landless and 65 per cent families in Bihar were landless.
"We want to know to which caste these landless people belong to. We also want to know about the castes of daily wages workers, rickshaw-pullers, beggars, manual labourers. Jaya Prakash Narayan talked about Total Revolution and it meant bringing the people on the last rung of societal ladder to the mainstream," the RJD president added. Kumar also used the occasion to attack BJP by pointing atthe poor law and order situation, as well as, bad condition of roads in neighbouring Jharkhand, which is a BJP-ruled state.
The Bihar CM hit out at the Prime Minister for raking up the May 2010 dinner controversy in which he had claimed to be insulted as dinner invitation to him was withdrawn.
"If he (Narendra Modi) and BJP was so upset due to it, why did they contest 2010 Assembly elections later on under my leadership. They should have parted ways like I did in 2013 on the basis of differences in our principles," Kumar said.
Talking about recent speech of Modi at Muzaffarpur, where he had talked about his DNA, Kumar said the people of Bihar are now sending strands of their hair and fingernails in packets addressed to the Prime Minister's residences so that he could get them tested if he has any doubts.
"You (Modi) attack the pride, honour, history of Bihar. You call our land of lord Buddha and Mahavir as unfortunate. We won't react to you in such language. It is true that there was lack of awakening in the state, but now it has awakened. Our history has been magnificent and we will achieve it again in future," Kumar added.
He also pointed out how his government's decision to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in local self-government bodies, dresses and bicycles to school students have been emulated by other states as well.