With tempers in the JD(U) still high over Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s comments about “casteist Bihar leaders” and the regional party’s differences with its ruling Bihar ally BJP growing, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP on Tuesday attempted to assuage frayed nerves.
“His (Narendra Modi’s) statement was aimed at those leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav who had indulged in casteist politics in Bihar for so many years. The JD(U)-BJP coalition government under chief minister Nitish Kumar’s leadership has risen above the ills of casteist politics,” said the deputy CM, breaking his silence since the controversy erupted.
Coming a day after Bihar chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar uninhibitedly spurned his Gujarat counterpart’s politically loaded contentions, Sushil Modi’s elaborate clarifications before journalists were viewed in Bihar’s political circles as a crucial balancing act aimed at keeping the gulf between the two ruling allies from widening further.
“The absence of discriminatory practices displayed by our ruling coalition ensured that we got the votes of all sections of society, be they Hindus and Muslims, or forwards and backwards. This made us win such a thumping majority. Our government, in fact, crushed casteist politics in Bihar and put the state on the development path,” said Mr Sushil Modi, who enjoys excellent personal rapport with Mr Kumar and often faulted by many of his party colleagues for the same.
Explaining that he had “read every single line” of the Gujarat CM’s speech delivered at a public rally in Rajkot and also seen the CD of the contentious speech, Mr Sushil Modi added: “He (Narendra Modi) has nowhere made any remarks on the current government (in Bihar).” Sources in the JD(U) said the party’s leaders felt hardly placated.