Amit Shah Ends Rumours, Announces BJP-JDU Alliance For Bihar Polls

“NDA has led Bihar out of his lantern age (an allusion to RJDs poll symbol) to the LED era,” Shah said.

Shah sought support of the people for the Modi government’s moves like CAA, abrogation of Article 370 and the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

(Photo: PTI)

Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah, in Bihar’s Vaishali, put an end to rumours about the BJP-JD(U) alliance, saying that the next elections in the state will be contested under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s leadership.

“I would like to put all rumours to rest. The next election in Bihar will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar ji. BJP and JD(U) will contest together.”

Amit Shah, Union Home Minister

Further, Shah hailed Bihar for giving "the best response" to the amended Citizenship Act, and appealed to the people to pledge their support to the new law by giving a missed call on the designated number from their mobile phones.

Shah also slammed the Opposition for misleading minorities about the Act in pursuance of their "vote bank" politics and engineering the violence that erupted in its aftermath.

Underscoring that the law provides for citizenship to be granted and not snatched away, he said the party is organising rallies across the country to bust the misinformation campaign.

Opposition RJD, Congress and their Grand Alliance partners in Bihar have been campaigning against the CAA, proposed NRC and NPR. Lalu Prasad's RJD has been targeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over these issues.

Nitish Kumar, whose party JD(U) voted in favour of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament to help it become an Act, has said a countrywide implementation of National Register of Citizens is “needless” and has “no justification.”

Shah sought support of the people for the Modi government’s moves like CAA, abrogation of Article 370 and the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“Lalu Prasad (RJD supremo), who is in jail in corruption cases, may go on dreaming that our coalition will come apart.”

Amit Shah, Union Home Minister

“But he should know that the NDA has led Bihar out of his lantern age (an allusion to RJDs poll symbol) to the LED era... The country and the state shall progress under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar respectively,” Shah added.

He had earlier stated, in a couple of TV interviews, that the chief minister will lead the NDA charge in the Assembly polls. This was, however, the first occasion for him to make a pronouncement to the effect in Bihar.

Utterances of a few CM Nitish-bashers in the state BJP and comments of some JD(U) leaders against CAA had triggered speculations if all was well in the NDA in the state.

Kumar, who had severed ties with the BJP in 2013 and formed a government of the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in 2015, joined hands with the saffron party again in mid-2017 to form a NDA coalition ministry.

Highlighting that leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Azad had all stressed on the need for ensuring minorities’ rights in Pakistan, the BJP leader said “Rahul baba and his Congress should pay heed to the stance of their past generation of leaders and stop spreading misinformation about CAA.

Referring to Matuas and Namashudras – lower-caste Bengali-speaking refugees who have migrated to states bordering Bangladesh and stand to benefit from the legislation, Shah accused Lalu Prasad and "Mamata didi" of being insensitive to their plight.

Taking a jibe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party the BJP seeks to defeat in the coming Assembly polls in the national capital, Shah said "When slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukde honge hazaar’ (India shall be broken into a thousand fragments) a few years ago at JNU, the Narendra Modi government put the guilty behind bars. But Kejriwal government has been creating hurdles in their prosecution".

Further, about civil rights activists who have been critical of the Modi government on issues like mob lynching, abrogation of Article 370, CAA etc, Shah said “They should realise that hapless refugees also have human rights and our move is an endorsement of the same.”

(With PTI inputs)