PATNA: Apparently unsatiated with the landslide mandate in last year’s assembly polls, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today exhorted the people of Bihar to unite behind their ‘Bihari’ identity by defeating the last vestige of the casteist forces.
“The people should remain prepared to fight one final battle – that is for their distinct Bihari identity – in order to herald the socio-economic and political transformation in the state,” he said at the JD(U) state council meet here.
“You (people) have succeeded to a great extent in articulating a common aspiration -development, but none of us should rest on the works done already ….I visualize a scenario where a final battle between the casteiest elements and those who seek to restore their ‘Bihari’ identity,” Kumar said and asked the people to defeat the casteist forces for once and all.
“Bihar has a long long way to go to assert its identity at the national level and with the people willing to go the distance to achieve their dream should not stop in their strides till emerging victorious in the final battle (against casteist forces),” he said.
The Chief Minister also attacked his detractors, within the ruling JD(U) and outside, for their tirade against him personally and the NDA government in the run up to the assembly polls and said that he stood vindicated after the successful results at the hustings.
He took to task the AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi though without naming him for his campaign in last year’s Bihar assembly polls.
Kumar claimed that he had done the homework for the assembly polls and could read the script even ahead of the actual voting and slammed the dissidents from the JD(U) and political adversaries for their rhetoric against him and the ruling coalition which backfired on them.
“I had done the work and won the hearts of the people and in the bargain, their votes,” he said.
Criticising his detractors for questioning the NDA’s development plan, the Chief Minister said that he was convinced with the mantra of ‘development laced with justice’ and added that his government took care of the well-being of the people by taking care of nutrition, health, education without which, he believed, no development could be worthwhile and meaningful.
Kumar also stressed the issue of global warming and climate change and asked the JD(U) workers to plant saplings during a proposed membership drive and spread awareness among the people about the looming threat to the ecology and bio-diversity.