RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has been in a sulk ever since his party drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections, has urged voters to be cautious of "issues like Hindus versus Muslims and fake nationalism" and choose a government without being affected by propaganda.
The leader of Opposition, whose absence from the recently concluded assembly session in Bihar drew repeated criticisms from the treasury benches, shared his thoughts in a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday.
"People must choose a government keeping in mind the issues that affect their daily lives, without being affected by propaganda," Yadav said in the post titled 'Dil ki Baat'.
Assembly polls in Bihar are scheduled for next year.
"If people give in to issues like Hindus versus Muslims and fake nationalism fall for enticements like a mere Rs 6,000 per annum, which amounts to just Rs 17 per day, why would any regime feel the need for solving their problems," the 30-year-old stated.
He was referring to the BJP-led central government's 'Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana', under which income support of Rs 6,000 will be provided every year to small and marginal farmer families having combined landholding or ownership of up to two hectares.
The RJD heir apparent also complained about the Nitish Kumar government for its "continuous harping on the situation that prevailed 25-30 years ago", when the state was ruled by his father Lalu and, successively, by mother Rabri Devi.
Yadav alleged that the state government has failed in tackling the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome - which killed more than 150 children in a month - as also the floods which have submerged 13 districts and claimed 130 lives.
"Besides, more than 40 scams have come to light in the past few years in addition to horrendous scandals like the sexual abuse of inmates at the Muzaffarpur shelter home. And the people of Bihar are enduring all this stoically," Yadav said, targeting the ruling NDA in the state which won 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Underscoring that "60 per cent of the state's population is young", Yadav exhorted people to ponder "if the claims of sushasan (good governance) have an iota of truth" and asked "why is it that Bihar remains at the bottom on every index of human, social and economic development even after 14 years (of NDA rule)".
