Patna: Former deputy chief minister and Bihar opposition leader, Tejashwi Yadav, while talking about state-wide communal clashes termed chief minister Nitish Kumar as “persona non grata”. Yadav said governance had gone for a toss and religion-based tiffs have taken centre stage.
“Governance has become zero and communal clashes hero,” said Yadav.
The youngest opposition leader in the country also welcomed other parties, except that of Nitish Kumar, to form an alliance with them as they look to raise their status to the national level in a run-up to the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In an interview to News18, Yadav said, “It is time Nitish Kumar accepts his failure as a chief minister and resigns.”
Edited Excerpts:
Do you see political involvement in the communal clashes that Bihar witnessed in the recent past?
BJP’s nasty loss in the recently held by-elections is the reason behind all of this. These clashes were orchestrated by them to hide their loss and divert people’s attention from it.
Mohan Bhagwat has been coming to Bihar, camping here for 10 days, planning and plotting the riots. You tell me, does Bihar have large-scale factories to manufacture domestically-made weapons like swords? It does not. Then where did the swords come from?
It simply means that the swords must have been ordered, shipped and then used. This is simply a failure of the government and nothing else.
And see what the general discussion in the state is? The discussion should be that of employment, youth, labourers, women, poverty or development but see what the agenda is.
Bihar has been home to Gautam Buddha but as long as there is no peace, there cannot be any development. If clashes of this sort are going on, who is responsible? People sitting in the government are responsible. Ministers from the ruling party are delivering hate speeches only for the sake of a few votes.
Nitish Kumar’s chair is run by people sitting in Nagpur and Delhi. The chief minister has started loving his chair so much that he is ready to put the state at stake. Governance has become zero and communal clashes hero.
How is the party coping in the absence of party leader Lalu Prasad Yadav?
The party and its workers are missing him for sure and pray for his speedy recovery. However, the man has institutionalised a rich legacy and has created individual leaders within the party who can take the weight and responsibilities.
We are working based on his thoughts, targets and agenda.
The Nitish Kumar government has forgotten all its promises to Bihar but we remember all of them. We are going to keep asking the government to come out with explanations and reports regarding what it has been doing.
The government had talked about including the Paswan community in the Maha-Dalit sect but that is still hanging. The government is yet to come out with its annual report with regards to its schemes. Special category status was forgotten. The chief minister keeps boasting of liquor ban but that has been an utter failure. The Police arrest only those who cannot fight their cases and lets the rich free.
Are you looking to form coalitions with new parties?
Yes, we are talking to CPIM. We are already in coalition with the Congress as of now. We are also in talks with a few other regional parties. The point is that we can be in agreement and political coalition with any party except Janata Dal United (JDU).
I would like to welcome other parties and encourage them to join us in our efforts to restore law and order. Not only in the state of Bihar but the country as a whole.
With general elections less than a year away, where do you see your party in the national political space?
Recently, we won the Araria seat, which wasn’t traditionally ours. We lost in 1998, followed by 2004 and 2009 as well. In 2014, we won but that was because Nitish and the BJP were not together then. This time, Nitish Kumar, BJP, LGP and RLSP were all together and still they lost the battle. It shows that RJD is winning non-traditional seats. It is sign of what is to come during the 2019 elections.
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