Bihar leaders slam Kamal Nath’s remarks

CM Kamal Nath put a condition before the investing companies wishing to take incentives of providing at least 70% of the jobs to the local population.

Newly elected Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath’s statement that jobs offered to people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have increased unemployment in the state and that 70 % of the jobs in the state should be reserved for local population has kicked off a controversy, with political parties in Bihar attacking Congress for promoting regionalism.

Chief minister Kamal Nath (HT File)

Kamal Nath, soon after taking charge of CM, put a condition before the investing companies wishing to take incentives of providing at least 70% of the jobs available with them to the local population.

His reference to “Biharis occupying jobs” has not gone down well with the ruling NDA in Bihar, which targeted him for promoting regionalism. “He is spreading poison in the minds of people. Congress has again sown the seed of hatred in the name of region , caste, community and religion,” said union minister Ashwini Kumar Chowbey. “The statement is highly condemnable. Barely in two days, the party has shown its arrogance and its real character,” tweeted Bihar BJP president Nityanad Rai.

BJP’s alliance partner JD (U) too condemned Kamal Nath’s statement. “Instead of blaming Biharis, we will request you to provide better opportunities to your state’s youth. The dirty politics of regionalism raises question marks on Congress’s patriotism,” said party spokesperson Sanjay Singh.

The Congress and the RJD played it safe. “We did not hear his comment,” said Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore. “ Maybe he intended referring to something else and his statement got misconstrued,” he said.

RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari just said that people from Bihar and UP can live anywhere.

However, former union minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who recently left NDA and is likely to join the UPA, called the statement highly unacceptable.

“Biharis are not a burden on anybody, still they are insulted wherever they go. But the fact is that they contribute to the progress of that region,” said Kushwaha.

This is not the first time that people from Bihari living in different parts of the country have been targeted. Only recently, more than 50,000 migrant workers from north India fled Gujarat following targeted attack on them after a native of Bihar allegedly raped a 14-month-old girl on September 28 in Sabarkantha.

In 2012, the central government had to intervene and ask the Maharashtra government to stop Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) from targeting people on the basis of their regional identities.

The Thackerays, Udhav and cousin Raj, had made controversial statements, attacking the migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray, calling Biharis infiltrators, had threatened to force them out of Maharashtra if authorities in Bihar took legal action against Mumbai policemen who had picked up a teenager on charges of vandalising the martyr’s memorial during Azad Maidan protest on August 11, 2012.

RJD’s national vice-president Shivanad Tiwary said the trend of targeting Biharis was “not a good sign in democracy.

” IT had happened in Maharashtra, it happened in Gujarat. The centre should intervene and discuss the issue at national level,” he said.