Nitish flays BJP for giving primacy to 'non-issue' of illegal

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the BJP for giving prominence to the "non-issue" of illegal abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh and ignoring the "core issues" related to agriculture, education and infrastructure.
"They (BJP) sought votes in Uttar Pradesh in the name of development and improving the condition of farmers. But after winning the elections, instead of addressing the core issues of agrarian crisis, education and infrastructure development, they are giving primacy to the non-issue of illegal slaughterhouses," he told reporters.
Kumar asked the media to highlight the core issues related to education and infrastructure and not the "communal diversionary topic" of illegal slaughterhouses.

"Is crackdown on abattoirs an answer to core issues like agriculture, education and infrastructure?" Kumar asked after the weekly 'Lok Samvad' (public interaction) programme.
"The major chunk of population of Marathas, Patels and Jats is on the warpath due to agrarian issues in the country. Instead of addressing matters related to agriculture, prominence is bieng given to fringe activities," the JD(U) national president said.
"This (crackdown on illegal abattoirs) is a non-issue in Bihar as the state has a law, which was enacted in 1955, against illegal killing of animals," Kumar said.

His comment came as a reply to the BJP demanding an intensive, UP-like campaign against unlicensed abattoirs in Bihar, particularly in Seemanchal areas bordering Bangladesh.

He hit out at the BJP for allegedly pitting "one religion against another" and said such actions have "political limitations as when a party goes to polls, people judge it only on the basis of promises it has fulfilled".
"What happened to the tall talk of a drive against black money? Why a crackdown on benami (unaccounted) properties was not launched after demonetisation?" he asked.
The Bihar chief minister, who supported demonetisation but also made a strong case for crackdown on benami properties and liquor ban, said: "A drive against benami properties would yield more unaccounted money than that collected by scrapping of Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes.