Lalu Prasad says Bihar passengers face inhumane conditions due to insufficient trains for Chhath Puja.
BJP claims 12,000 special trains were arranged, but RJD calls it a “blatant lie.”
Bihar faces high migration with over 4 crore people leaving annually for work.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Saturday criticised the Centre for not running sufficient Bihar-bound trains to facilitate passengers returning home for Chhath Puja, saying many were “forced to travel in inhumane conditions”.
According to PTI, the former Bihar chief minister shared a video on social media showing passengers travelling in overcrowded trains to the state for the festival.
In his post on X, Prasad claimed, “The uncrowned king of lies and the leader of empty promises had boasted that out of the country's total 13,198 trains, 12,000 would operate for Bihar during Chhath festival. This, too, turned out to be a blatant lie. My fellow Biharis are forced to travel in trains in an inhumane manner.”
Earlier, BJP national president J P Nadda had said at a public rally in Bihar that the Ministry of Railways had increased the number of special trains to 12,000 to manage the passenger rush during Chhath festival.
Prasad also highlighted the ongoing challenges faced by Biharis, saying people “who have been suffering the pain of migration for the last 20 years of the NDA rule” struggle to get trains home for the festival.
“They are being forced to travel in inhumane conditions in packed trains. How shameful is this? Due to the wrong policies of the double-engine government, more than 4 crore people from Bihar migrate to other states for work every year,” he said, according to PTI.
The RJD leader further alleged that despite the setting up of several industrial units, the NDA government has not established any major industry in Bihar, describing it as “anti-Bihar”.
The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results scheduled to be declared on November 14.
(With inputs from PTI)
