JP disciples sacrificed his ideology, tied up with Congress: Shah

The senior BJP leader issued a call for “total political and systemic change” as he addressed his second meeting in Bihar since the change of government in he state that saw BJP ousted from power in August.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in an apparent dig at the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, on Tuesday said that those who claim to be disciples of Jayaprakash Narayan have sacrificed his socialist ideology to sit in the “lap” of Congress for power.

Union home minister Amit Shah unveils a statue of Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan in Sitab Diara on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

Shah was addressing a rally at Sitab Diara village in Saran district, the birthplace of the hero of the anti-Emergency movement, popularly known as JP, after unveiling a 15-foot high statue of the socialist icon to mark his 120th birth anniversary.

“I ask people of Bihar — leaders who achieved heights through JP movement are sitting in Congress’s lap for power. Are you with them?...JP never did anything for power and worked for principles all his life. Today, people who switch sides five times for power are chief minister of Bihar,” Shah said, in an apparent swipe at chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The senior BJP leader issued a call for “total political and systemic change” as he addressed his second meeting in Bihar since the change of government in he state that saw BJP ousted from power in August.

In Bihar, many senior leaders across the aisle, including RJD chief and former CM Lalu Prasad, late Ramvilas Paswan and former deputy CM and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, cut their teeth in politics during the JP movement in the 1970s.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who accompanied Shah, also targeted the state government. “There is no dearth of merit among the people of Bihar. The people here have immense potential. But the youth here are helpless because of people doing politics in the name of JP and Lohia,” he said.

Yogi said his government will work to make Bihar flood free along with UP. This is seen as a reply to CM Nitish Kumar who had written a letter to Yogi over pending development works at Sitab Diara, a part of which falls in UP.

Earlier in the day, CM Kumar sought to make light of Shah’s visit. “Whoever may come and go, it does not affect me (koi aae ya jaae humko koi fark nahin padta hai),” was his curt reply to journalists’ queries whether he thought that Shah’s visit was an attempt to appropriate the legacy of “JP”.

Kumar, the de facto supreme of JD(U), left for Nagaland later in the day to attend a function held there in honour of the legendary socialist leader.

JP had spent three years in the 1960s in the northeastern state, where he is still revered by the local residents.