Nitish assails BJP’s divisive agenda

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday assailed the BJP for its attempt to create a rift and spread hatred among different sections of the society.

Without naming the saffron party, with whom he runs an alliance government in Bihar, Nitish said, "These days a new trend has begun how to divide people in the name of religion and caste. Social media is being used unabashedly to promote hatred in the society.

"But such people should take a leaf from former prime minister V P Singh’s book and learn how to take along every section of the society. This country can be governed by peace and amity. Not through a divisive agenda."

Nitish, who first became a Union minister in the V P Singh government in December 1989, was speaking at the birth anniversary of the former prime minister here at Rabindra Bhavan.

Incidentally, the 10-month-old V P Singh government fell after the BJP withdrew its support to the National Front Government in October 1990 following L K Advani's arrest in Bihar at the peak of the Ram Janambhoomi movement.

Nitish's veiled attack on its ruling alliance partner comes a few hours after the JD (U) made it clear to the BJP that it the saffron party could contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar if it did not care for the other NDA allies.

"The seat-sharing for 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be based on the performance of the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections where the JD (U) got 71 seats and the BJP 53. Without Nitish's brand name, even the BJP won't succeed here as there is a huge difference between the 2014 and the 2019 polls," said Sanjay Singh, the JD (U) spokesperson.

The JD(U)'s tough posturing comes on a day when the Nitish's party launched a statewide agitation against the BJP government in Jharkhand headed by Raghubar Das.