Bihar BJP leader accuses Nitish Kumar of Muslim appeasement

Nitish Kumar has been pitching for Opposition parties to unite against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming 2024 general election.

Reacting to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s veiled jibe at the Union government that “nothing was happening in the poor States” but “only propaganda” was being spread, State BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand on Friday alleged that in the Muslim-dominated districts of the State, the Dalits, Other Backward Class and Extremely Backward Class were suffering.

“If you [Mr. Kumar] love to do Muslim appeasement or is obsessed with Pakistan, then you go there but don’t create a Pakistan in Bihar,” Mr. Anand said.

Mr. Anand, who is also the national general secretary of the party’s OBC Morcha, objected to Mr. Kumar’s move to appoint Urdu teachers in every school of the State. “He is distributing appointment letters to Urdu (Muslim) people, and in schools across the State, they will be employed? Planning to employ Urdu-knowing people in all police stations of the State and in the Assembly as well?” Mr. Anand said in a video message released to mediapersons on Friday.

On November 3, while reiterating the long-standing demand for “special status” to Bihar, Mr. Kumar said: “All poor States of the country should get special status. Nothing is happening in the poor States. Only propaganda is under way ( Jhute prachar prashar mein laga rahta hai…garib gurba rajyon mein kuch nahi ho raha hai). The Chief Minister, who was speaking at a government function, also distributed appointment letters to nearly 200 Urdu translators and stenographers.

Mr. Kumar’s party, the JD(U), had severed ties with the BJP in August this year to form mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government in the State with the RJD, the Congress and other parties.

After snapping ties with the BJP, Mr. Kumar has been pitching for Opposition parties to unite against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming 2024 general election. He has also said that “all backward States, including Bihar, will get special status if Opposition parties succeed in forming the next government at the Centre”.