Rahul's U-turn: Nitish not secular

Months after praising Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his 'good intentions', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi kicked off the election campaign of his party by criticising him. On Thursday, the heir-apparent of the Congress questioned the secular credentials of Kumar and slammed his claims about development of Bihar.

Gandhi said Kumar could not claim the moral high ground after having partnered with leaders and organisations following “dividing” ideology. “You are in partnership with the BJP and is still afraid of two of its leaders to visit the state, why is it so?,” he told election rallies at Kodha in Katihar district. He was apparently referring to Kumar’s opposition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his cousin and BJP leader Varun Gandhi campaigning in the state for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Rahul asked how Nitish Kumar could claim he had secular credentials when he is in “partnership” with leaders and organisations following a “divisive” ideology. "He is in partnership with those who beat and try to scare off migrant labourers from Bihar in Mumbai. He is in partnership with those who beat women in Bangalore. He partnered with those who were behind the Gujarat pogram," said the Congress General Secretary. Accusing the JD(U)-BJP and RJD-LJP alliances of using caste and religion for political gains, he said, “We are opposed to such partnerships. We want justice and development for all, the poor and the rich, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. We want one India for everybody. We want to put an end to this ideology.” “We know that we will initially have difficulty. It will take time, but we will continue the struggle for the development of the state and for a government with greater participation of youths,” Rahul Gandhi said.

He alleged that the benefits of central schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme were not reaching the targeted people in Bihar because of rampant corruption. Stating that the Central Government had provided assistance of around Rs 1 lakh crore to the state, Gandhi said, “It is unfortunate that benefits of schemes like MNREGA and Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) have failed to help the needy because of the rampant corruption in their implementation. He said, ''If there is so much development in the state, then why do you have to leave your home in the first place. Why do you have to live in Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab or Delhi? There has been no development in Bihar. The problem lies with your government.''

“Congress governments have done a lot for development in states where the party was ruling compared to states ruled by the NDA,” he said. There was large-scale migration of youths and skilled labourers looking for jobs from Bihar to Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi which could be halted if these schemes were implemented properly, he said.

It is worth mentioning here that in the recent past Gandhi had praised Nitish Kumar for his ''development-minded policies''. During a visit to Bihar in February this year, he had said, ''I must say that his (Nitish Kumar's) intentions are good. However, due to the rampant corruption, he is not able to perform.''