Bihar minister skewers officials in viral video, says call me choron ka sardar

Bihar’s agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh said Bihar was facing its worst drought in 100 years but according to reports received from officials, there was no problem on the ground.

Bihar’s agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh on Sunday publicly conveyed his displeasure with the state of affairs in the farm department under his charge, saying there was all-pervasive corruption in paddy procurement and sale of seeds and fertilisers.

The BJP had earlier demanded chief minister Nitish Kumar drop Bihar’s agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh on the ground that he was named in an embezzlement case in 2013 (Twitter/prabhatpat)

“As the minister of the agriculture department, you can call me choron ka sardar (leader of thieves),” Singh, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, said at a public gathering at Chand in Kaimur district on Sunday, a video clip of which has begun circulating on social media.

The minister vowed to check the malpractices and asked people to hit the street in protest if he failed.

Singh’s outburst came after hundreds of farmers at the function to felicitate him on his appointment as minister complained about corruption and mismanagement in paddy procurement, sale of seeds, fertilizer distribution and grant of diesel subsidy by his department.

The minister said Bihar was suffering the most severe drought in 100 years but officials were misleading the government with fake reports.

“I visited Jamui and Munger districts and saw they were facing drought due to scanty rainfall, but officials are reporting good rains, good paddy transplant and greenery all over. Similarly, no farmer purchased seeds from Bihar Rajya Beej Nigam Limited because of lack of faith in its quality, but the corporation was running on statistics,” Singh, who is from Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), said.

He said that farmers were forced to buy pesticides and other chemicals for each bag of subsidized fertilizer that they bought.

Singh warned agriculture officials of stringent action if they did not change the wrong practices and work in the interest of farmers.

To be sure, the farm minister Sudhakar Singh is already under attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party which wants chief minister Nitish Kumar to sack him. Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi last month said Sudhakar Singh was an accused in two cases linked to alleged embezzlement of rice worth ₹5.31 crore in the State Food Corporation

According to reports, Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das had also questioned the appointment of Sudhakar Singh, who is the son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh.