Union minister and senior Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh triggered a controversy on Sunday by stating that the people from the minority community do not vote for chief minister Nitish Kumar despite his work for their welfare.
While Singh and his party leaders later tried to clarify and defend the statement, it drew sharp criticism from the Opposition.
“The people of the minority community do not vote for Nitish Kumar. They do not vote for him. Do not harbour any misunderstanding that we are in any delusion that they did not vote previously, but do so now. Nitish’s thought is that he is committed to the development of the people of Bihar whether anybody votes for him or not. This is why he works,” Singh said.
“The work that Nitishji has done for the development of the minority community in the last 19 years is an example in the history of Bihar since Independence. But they (the minority community) vote for those who did not do even a bit of work for them. On the other hand, Nitishji says, ‘let them vote for anybody they want to, I am here and my government is here, so it is my duty to work,’” Singh added.
The Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, and panchayati raj was speaking at a JDU workers’ meeting at Muzaffarpur on Sunday. He visited the town for the first time since becoming a memberof the cabinet.
He pointed out the Madrasa teachers used to get ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 salary per month during the reign of the RJD leaders Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi but now they get salaries as per the seventh pay commission recommendations.
Speaking further, Singh asserted that Nitish identified the people belonging to the extremely backward castes as a category or group, but now some people are trying to mislead and divide them into separate castes and social groups.
“I appeal to them not to get misled by Lalu Prasad and the RJD,” he said, adding that Nitish would lead the NDA to power in the Assembly elections next year.
Singh’s statement echoed Sitamarhi JDU MP Devesh Chandra Thakur, who had asserted in June this year that he would not work for the Muslims and Yadavs anymore because they did not vote for him.
Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmad Khan slammed the Union minister over the divisive remarks and said: “Singh is speaking the language of power. He is speaking like a parrot of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Is he present at every polling booth so as to know that the Muslims do not vote for Nitish? He is proving himself to be a small man and has forgotten that the government is bound to talk about everybody.”
RJD MLA and chief spokesperson Bhai Virendra asserted that the Union minister has revealed his mentality through his statements and has become trapped.
“The truth is that the JDU thinks that the Muslims do not vote for it. The statements of Singh will make the Muslim–Yadav bond stronger and the JDU will face the consequences in the next polls,” Virendra added.
Attacking the Union minister over his statements, AIMIM Bihar president Akhtarul Iman pointed out that the Nitish government in Bihar was working on the agenda of the BJP and was propagating Right-Wing thoughts. He demanded a white paper on the works done by the chief minister for the minority community.
As Singh’s remarks created a stir, state minority welfare minister and JDU leader Zama Khan said that it was wrong to say that the minority community does not vote for Nitish.
“Nitish has the support of all sections of the society and he has worked for their development,” Zama added.
Rural works minister and senior JDU leader Ashok Choudhary asserted that vested interests twisted Singh’s remarks and projected them in a wrong manner.
Later in the day, Singh, who is in Delhi to attend the winter session of the Lok Sabha, clarified that he had said: “Nitish Kumar does not work for votes. He works for the betterment of the society, including the minority community, irrespective of whether it votes for him or not.”
