Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar turn to be in New Delhi
national capital to address a Adhikar Rally at Ramlila Ground in New
Delhi corroborative demand for special status for Bihar as JD(U)
President Sharad Yadav addressed the gathering prior to Nitish. After
bifurcation of the state in 2000 and creation of Jharkhand, state’s
financial strength was badly affected and it lost its mineral strength
to Jharkhand. The (NDA) government had then assured a special package
for Bihar but it did not see the light of progress. Nitish Kumar
believes that a special status is must for Bihar to proceed on the path
of growth and development . The Adhikar rally took place days after
Nitish Kumar welcomed Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s budget speech
announcing the government’s intent to change the criteria of deciding
the backwardness of states. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also
talked about the growth story of Bihar. People in the central
government, too, are feeling that there should be justice to Bihar.
Addressing a party rally in the national capital on Sunday, dubbed as a
show of strength by Bihar’s ruling party JD(U), Kumar said his state
should be given special status as it is lagging behind in all aspects of
development. He also sought the Centre’s assistance for development of
all backward states in the country, asserting that only those who feel
for such states will rule the Centre after 2014 Lok Sabha elections. “We
will leave everyone behind and move ahead with development. And we will
present a model before the world. These days development model is being
discussed. This model is what takes along everyone together. This is
the real development model of India,” the Chief Minister said, in an
apparent reference to the ‘Gujarat model’ being touted by Chief Minister
Narendra Modi. “All the backward states should get their rights. We are
not begging, special status is our right….We won’t be quiet until we
(Bihar) get special staus,” he said. Kumar’s rally was held a fortnight
after the central government proposed to change the parameters of
determining backwardness of states, an announcement immediately welcomed
by the Chief Minister, who interpreted it as a positive step towards
realising the goal of special status for Bihar. Finance Minister P
Chidambaram’s announcement in the budget in this regard and its
immediate welcome by Kumar fuelled speculation of JD-U coming closer to
Congress at a time when Modi’s stocks appeared to be rising in BJP with
whom Kumar’s antipathy is well-known.Upper castes poor should not get
any quota: JD (U)
Top JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwary flayed JD(U)-
BJP govt in Bihar for constituting an Upper Caste Commission, saying the
upper castes poor should not get any quota benefits and a good eco was
sufficient to rescue them from poverty. “I don’t think they (upper
castes) should be given any reservation benefit which are strictly made
for the Backward classes and Dalits,” said Tiwary, who is general
secretary and national spokesperson of JD(U). He criticised the decision
of the NDA government in Bihar to constitute the Upper Castes
Commission to look into the grievances of poor amongst the upper castes
and taking steps for their socio-economic empowerment including
reservation if necessary. “This (formation of the commission) is just an
unnecessary and useless step, I don’t know why it has been done but I
strongly oppose any move to grant them (upper classes) any quota benefit
in the country,” he said in New Delhi on Sunday. “Since ages, they
(upper caste) have oppressed the lower strata people, discriminated
against them and deprived them of their due rights. How and what sense
does it make for anyone to explore the idea of granting reservation to
them or even forming the commission,” he said. “Yes, there is some
problem of poverty among the upper castes too, it will be cured
automatically when the economic development of country will speed up, no
need to make commissions and granting quota for this,” Tiwary said. The
remarks come even as his party colleague and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is
trying hard to bring the upper castes into his fold to prepare for
situation when his party might not be allied with the BJP. Even
opposition parties had promised 10 percent reservation in government
jobs and educational institutions for the poor amongst the upper castes
if voted to power. Tiwary’s remarks might not go well with JD(U) ally
BJP which counts heavily on upper caste voters especially in Bihar. It
has been two years since the formation of the upper caste commission,
but the body has not come up with any concrete recommendation, and until
recently, didn’t even have an office. Accepting the prevalence of caste
in Bihar even today, Tiwary said, “We don’t make tall claims of having
eradicated the ‘caste’ and breaking the caste cauldron but yes, there
has been tremendous change and our social justice mechanism has grown
from strength to strength.”
