RJD talks of giving jobs to 1 mn people, but many more have left the state during its regime: Nadda

In an interview with HT, Nadda said job creation does not take place in a vacuum and called it a holistic exercise

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Jagat Prakash Nadda has defended their criticism of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s promise of one million government jobs when his party has spoken of 1.9 million jobs, saying their main rivals in Bihar do not have the vision to deliver on the promise. He said the RJD does not understand governance, and that is why they come out with such statements.

BJP national president JP Nadda. (ANI)

In an interview with HT, Nadda said job creation does not take place in a vacuum and called it a holistic exercise. “You need law and order—the RJD in this aspect is compromised. You need infrastructure—for which you [RJD] do not have a vision. And then comes investment, but you [RJD] do not have confidence in yourself, and people do not have confidence looking at your background,” he said, referring to RJD’s 15-year rule in Bihar.

He called migration RJD’s USP. “You talk of giving jobs to 10 lakh [one million] people, but I say in response that many more people have left the state during your regime. [RJD chief] Laluji [Prasad] used to say, ‘people leave Bihar in a torn pair of pants and come back in a suit and a tie’. They now say they will give government jobs; we said we will create opportunities for 19 lakh [1.9 million] jobs.”

Nadda disagreed with the view that RJD’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, who is drawing large crowds to his election meetings, is untested unlike chief minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. “Who says he has not been assessed? Did he attend the budget session [of the Bihar assembly] even once in 2019? Where was he during the [Covid-19] lockdown? When Tej Pratap [Yadav, Tejashwi’s brother] was the health minister, what did he do? He did not even get off his horse. Their character has not changed, and nor has their mentality,” said Nadda.

He underlined a leader has to go through the paces. “The problem with many of these people is that they have not struggled on the ground; they have never been part of agitations, and therefore do not understand the real problems of the people. They sit in drawing rooms and decide slogans, and are surrounded by so-called master strategists. They have not struggled on the ground, and therefore the level of arrogance has not reduced.”