Nitish Kumar continues his tirade against Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar continued his trenchant criticism of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi at a 17-party convention against communalism being held in Delhi, saying that he was “prepared to pay the price” of having opposed the forces of communalism.

Kumar had three engagements in New Delhi on Wednesday and all three involved Modi. Kumar lost no opportunity to target the BJP’s PM candidate either at a function organized by his party’s Delhi unit or at a convention against communalism. His third engagement with home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, was about the blasts which occurred at Modi’s rally in Patna.

At the convention against communalism, Kumar, referring to Modi, said that “some leaders say ‘chun chun kar saaf karo’ (resort to cleansing). What kind of language is this? In a democracy, you win elections by defeating others. But why use phrases like cleansing others?” taking further his comparison of Modi to fascists of yore.

Hitting out at Modi, the Bihar CM said everyone needs development but the model of development is important. “A choice has to be made between models which favour corporate houses or inclusive models which focusses on the development of common man,” he said. He added that non-inclusive models which do not care for the poor and the weaker sections cannot succeed .

He condemned the lack of tolerance for dissent “among certain sections of leadership.” In this context, he said there have been efforts to malign nobel laureate Amartya Sen after he had praised work done in Bihar. Kumar, in an apparent attack on VHP, said people were taking out “untimely” religious processions in an attempt to “raise passions and create divisions”. The Bihar CM went on to caution the media, saying it can report freely only in a democracy.

“Some people are dreaming to become PM and they are dreaming so much so that they are making fake Red Fort, whether or not they reach the Red Fort,” he said at a function organised by the JD(U)to induct Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal into the party.