Delhi assembly elections: Nitish Kumar junks Gujarat model, bats for Bihar

NEW DELHI: On a day when his pet hate Narendra Modi was also campaigning in Delhi, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit out at the BJP leader saying his much-touted "Gujarat model" leaves out large segments of society while Bihar provides an example more suited to Delhi and India.

Kumar, addressed rallies in three Poorvanchali-dominated areas on Saturday, in a bid to boost JD(U)'s prospects so that the party makes a debut in Delhi. While being scathing about Modi, he took care to reach out to migrants, saying that contrary to claims that they were adding to Delhi's problems, this section of the population played a crucial role in the city's development.

Fielding candidates from 27 "poorvanchali" seats, Kumar took several digs at Modi at the public meeting in Dwarka where he slammed Gujarat's development model, saying, "Some leaders are here promising development. But they don't see that the so-called development in their state is limited to just few areas, whereas there has been inclusive development in Bihar. It is Bihar's development model that is more favourable for the growth of Delhi as well India."

At a packed ramlila maidan in Okhla, a Muslim-dominated constituency, Nitish kumar said, "Our way is progress with justice, which means all communities must progress together. When we talk of development we talk about people, not factories."

Stressing his point with minority voters, Kumar spoke of the sacrifice his party had made in Bihar for the sake of inclusive growth. He said, "We had a very comfortable government with the BJP in Bihar. There were no challengers either. But when we saw that the country was going in a wrong direction, we broke the alliance. We told them we can't accept controversial people."

Clearly referring to Modi, the CM said, "We don't care about our government, but we do care about what kind of country we are going to build. Are we going to have country where a section of society is going to be sidelined? We can't accept such politics and neither will you, I am sure."

Despite the growing proximity between Congress and JD(U) after Kumar parted ways with NDA, the BIhar CM didn't spare the ruling party either. From corruption to price rise, he said both Congress and BJP have miserably failed to provide succour to the people.

He went on to compare Delhi with Bihar, "The part where politicians live is totally different. But rest of the Delhi is like Bihar only."

He also clarified his party's decision of disassociating from NDA was rooted in his concern that his erstwhile partners concentrated on one particular community. "We believe in taking people from all religions and castes together but NDA wants to pamper only one community. This ideology is not good for the country and for the people as well."

The bid to paint BJP as "communal" after a 17-year association could be questioned, but Kumar's political message was intended to underline his "neutrality" with Poorvanchali voters, many of who are Muslims.