Nitish Kumar urges secular parties to fight against communal, fascist forces

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that nation has to stand united against communal and fascist forces, and urged all the secular parties to ensure that communal harmony in this country is not disturbed.

"We have gathered to prevent communalism in the country. The nation has to stand united. There are 17 political parties here, and we must take oath that we will sacrifice our lives but not let communal harmony be disturbed," he said at the Left -sponsored convention against communalism at the Talkatora stadium here.

"I have full confidence in the people of this country, and they will never let such communal or fascist forces succeed," he added.

He further said that nation must unite to fight against terrorism and fascism, which has destabilized the very essence of democracy in this country.

'Today there is another danger apart from communalism, and that is fascism. There is a fascist thought- "we will not tolerate criticism of any kind," he said.

"Professor Amartya Sen wrote a few words in praise of Bihar. This is a democratic country and anyone can express their views, but they (fascist forces) could not tolerate it, and they resorted to character assassination.

Nitish Kumar further cautioned the people about the kind of politics emerging in this country, and said that the secular forces will continue their fight to maintain communal harmony.

'We have to be cautious about the kind of politics emerging in this country. We will fight and we won't give up, and I know people believe in communal harmony, they believe in democracy," he said,

"Every one wants development, but what kind of a development model should it be? Development of corporates or development of the people?" he questioned.

Nitish Kumar shared the stage with Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) president Sharad Yadav, and CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat among others.