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Eye on 2024, Shah hits out at Grand Alliance
During his visit to Bihar, against the backdrop of communal tensions in the wake of clashes during Ram Navami, Shah served a warning to all troublemakers.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday appealed to voters at a rally in Bihar’s Nawada to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) all 40 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and elect the party to run the state in 2025 to end the cycle of violence and lawlessness once and for all, reiterating that the BJP’s doors were permanently closed for chief minister Nitish Kumar even in a post-poll scenario.
Read here: ‘Will straighten rioters after putting them...’: Amit Shah in Bihar
During Shah’s visit to Bihar, against the backdrop of communal tensions in the wake of clashes during Ram Navami processions, the Union home minister served a warning to all troublemakers.
“All those involved in rioting, we will hang them upside down. Biharsharif and Sasaram are burning and innocent people are getting killed. I had to go to Sasaram to participate in a Samrat Ashok birth anniversary function, but I could not go. I will certainly go to Sasaram the next time. I pray to God that peace is restored in Bihar at the earliest,” Shah said, asking people if the Narendra Modi government had done the right thing by abolishing Article 370 to end the politics of appeasement and constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya despite opposition from the likes of the Congress, Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and others.
Addressing a public meeting as part of his Lok Sabha Pravas programme at the Hisua inter-school ground in Nawada district amid tight security and an ongoing war of words between the BJP and the Grand Alliance (GA) leaders over his visit in the wake of communal clashes, Shah said the state government was incapable of quelling violence.
Shah has lately been focusing on the politically significant Bihar, which has been known for triangular political contexts revolving around the BJP, the RJD and the JD(U). Any two sides getting together has historically vanquished the third. Since Kumar broke away from the National Democratic Alliance and joined hands with the RJD, Shah has been frequently visiting the state to prepare the organisation for the challenge ahead of the 2024 general elections. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats, of which the NDA bagged 39 in 2019 in alliance with the JD(U).
Shah said he had called up Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Sunday morning to take stock of the situation in the state, adding that he saw no point speaking to the local government.
“Lalan Babu (JDU president Lalan Singh) felt bad. I am the home minister of the country and Bihar is a part of it. As the government here cannot control things, I have concerns. After all, how can a government running with the support of the pioneers of jungle raj ensure peace in society? The lust for power may have forced Nitish Kumar, who is adept at cheating everyone and hopping parties, to sit in the lap of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, but the BJP does not have any such compulsion. We will awaken the people, who want to see Narendra Modi as the PM for the third time, to uproot the GA,” he said.
“The reality is that there is no vacancy of the PM’s post and that will keep Lalu Prasad’s son waiting. Nitish Kumar will never leave the chair and Lalu Prasad should know this. Bihar’s people have no misunderstanding about them. The people will ensure that lotus blooms in Nawada and on all the 40 seats. Even the MPs and MLAs of the GA oppose Nitish Kumar, as they cannot face the people,” he added.
The home minister said the BJP had helped both Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar come to power, but now it was time for the party to form the government on its own.
Read here: Bihar violence: CM holds high-level meet; announces ₹5L for kin of deceased
“Nitish Kumar, who thrives on the poison of casteism, and Lalu Prasad, the pioneer of jungle raj cannot have any pact with the BJP. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav earlier called Nitish Kumar a snake, paltu chacha, dhokhebaz, arrogant and even chameleon, but all that was conveniently forgotten for the chair,” he said.
Highlighting development initiatives of the Centre for the Nawada region, including railway lines, trains, highways and irrigation schemes, Shah said that all the panchayats of Bihar would have a cooperative dairy under a new scheme of the Centre.
“Bihar has got more than double the funding under the Narendra Modi government compared to the UPA years. Besides, 4.25 lakh metric tonnes of ration has been given free of cost to Bihar’s poor under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, 85 lakh farmers get ₹6,000 every year, 1.10 crore women have got gas cylinders and there is construction of houses and toilets,” he said.
Calling Shah’s comments “unfortunate”, RJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said that as home minister of the country “he (Shah) should be above partisan politics”. “Today, instead of using healing words, he resorted to politicking. He should have been a bit cautious in his choice of words, but I cannot expect him to act as per the mandate of the home minister. We have seen home ministers from the very first cabinet, but never seen anyone taking politics to this low,” Jha said.
JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that the statement of the home minister was “irresponsible and a bundle of lies to tarnish the image of Bihar”. “Shah went to Nawada which is the birthplace of former Bihar CM Shri Krishna Singh, but he did not make any reference to him. That shows his hatred for the great son of Bihar. Nitish Kumar gave ₹158 crore worth projects in Shri Krishna Singh’s native place as a mark of respect. He said people are getting killed in Sasaram. He should give the names and details of the victims if he has the courage. Else, he should apologise,” he said.
