Nitish Kumar questions NDA's good governance claim

NEW DELHI: Former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hit out at the Narendra Modi government over its good governance plank and questioned why a single Muslim was not among its 282 Lok Sabha MPs from BJP.

Emphasising that good governance meant "growth with justice" and inclusiveness, he wondered if the low representation of Muslims in BJP was just a coincidence or it was part of a well thought-out strategy.

Delivering the '35th Bhim Sen Sachar Memorial Lecture' here, Kumar questioned the government on its pre-poll assurances on black money and also hit out at it by saying that mythology is being presented as history these days including by those in the highest office.

Talking about the Lok Sabha elections, he said that though BJP got an absolute majority for the first time, a significant aspect was that its vote share was only around 31 per cent.

He said another aspect is that perhaps there is not a single Muslim representative in the 282 BJP elected MPs.

Speaking further he said that he had come across a report in the media according to which even in the nine states, where BJP along with its allies is in power, the party has only 22 Muslims out of the total 1,352 MLAs.

He added that at the ministerial level in states, out of around 151 cabinet and ministers of state, there is only one Muslim.

"It needs to be answered whether this is coincidental or if it is part of a well thought-out strategy," said Kumar, an erstwhile ally of BJP who had severed ties with the party over the prominence being granted to Modi before the Lok Sabha polls.

He stressed that there is good governance only when all sections feel they have a stake and there is harmony and peace.