Rahul Gandhi Slams Modi, Nitish In Bihar: ‘Land Of Knowledge Turned Crime Capital’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the prevailing law and order situation in the State, accusing them of turning Bihar from the “land of knowledge” into the country’s “crime capital”.

On his fifth visit this year to the poll-bound State, Mr. Gandhi addressed a gathering in Rajgir’s Nalanda — the home district of the Chief Minister — and said, “Bihar was once considered the land of truth, justice and non-violence. It showed the path to the entire world. People from across the globe used to come to study at Nalanda University. But today, the situation has changed. People from Bihar are forced to migrate to other States and abroad because there is no employment here. Today, Bihar has become the crime capital of the country.”

Highlighting the issue of representation, the Congress MP said, “90% of the country’s population has no real representation”. He added that backward classes, Dalits, Adivasis, and extremely backward communities have no “meaningful presence” in the corporate sector, judiciary, bureaucracy, or among the owners of private hospitals and other institutions.

Calling for a caste-based census, he said, “The day a proper caste census is done, it will not be just an X-ray but it will prove to be an MRI. I want to show the country the truth about how much injustice is being done to 90% of the population.”

Mr. Gandhi also alleged that the Centre is avoiding the caste census deliberately. “The Central government would not conduct the caste census accurately because the day it happened, the BJP’s politics would end,” he said.

Questioning the current reservation cap, he remarked, “The 50% ceiling on reservation is meaningless and whenever a Congress government is formed, it will break the 50% reservation barrier.”

The Congress leader also criticised the Prime Minister over the recent India-Pakistan military conflict, alleging, “Donald Trump has said 11 times – made Narendra Modi surrender — but Narendra Modi is unable to say anything, not even able to say that Trump has lied because this is the truth.”

Responding to the allegations, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary defended the State government and hit back, saying, “Modi and Nitish have developed Bihar so much that Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad do not have the courage to talk on this issue.”

“He is raising the issue of crime to create a perception. There is no difference between Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad. One looted the country after coming to power, while the other looted Bihar,” Mr. Choudhary added.

“Nitish Kumar adopted a zero-tolerance policy on crime in Bihar, so no one is spared here. Action is taken immediately and the criminal has to go to jail. No one takes Rahul Gandhi’s statement seriously,” he said.