'Bihar first, Bihari first': Chirag Paswan reveals reason behind his Bihar poll entry; says opposition all 'jittery'
Chirag Paswan
Union minister Chirag Paswan on Sunday said that he wants to contest the upcoming assembly elections 'for the sake of Bihar,' and brushed aside attempts by 'jittery' rivals to block his path.
Addressing a rally titled Bahujan Bhim Sankalp Samagam at Rajgir in Nalanda, the home district of CM Nitish Kumar, Paswan slammed the opposition INDIA bloc, accusing them of misleading voters.
He urged people to be careful against the 'false narrative' of the bloc which 'alleged during the Lok Sabha polls last year that the Constitution will be under threat if Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a third consecutive term.'
"They are trying to play the same trick again in the run up to assembly polls. But you must remember that the worst attack on Constitution came during the Emergency when the Congress was in power and countless young men, mostly Dalits, minorities and OBCs, had been forcibly sterilised,' said the Lok Janshakti Party president.
The Hajipur MP further criticised the Congress for allegedly using minority concerns as a political tool.
'Today the Congress and its allies are busy trying to present themselves as the champions of minorities by attending a rally in Patna where they are opposing the Waqf Act which had been brought for the benefit of poor Muslims. They should be asked about the Turkman Gate massacre,' he said.
Paswan also took aim at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for aligning with the Congress 'just for the sake of power'. He challenged him to 'seek an apology from Rahul Gandhi for excesses during the Emergency, the sufferers of which include his own father (RJD president Lalu Prasad)'.
He went on to attack Rahul Gandhi for 'carrying a red copy of the Constitution', accusing the Congress of sidelining Babasaheb Ambedkar while in power.
'It was the government of VP Singh, supported by the BJP, in which my idol and father late Ram Vilas Paswan a minister, that Bharat Ratna was given to Babasaheb, his picture was installed in Parliament and the report of Mandal Commission, put by the Congress in cold storage, was implemented,' he said.
Talking about the issue of reservation, Paswan said that the opposition keeps on raising a "false alarm."
'The opposition keeps raising the false alarm that reservation will be scrapped. Let me give you the guarantee that this is not going to happen, as long as Chirag Paswan is alive,' he assured the people.
Reflecting upon his comeback to the Bihar politics, he said that it symbolised people coming back to the state after fleeing from the lawlessness during the RJD rule.
'Many people are jittery that I want to come to Bihar. They are trying to know whether I will be contesting elections here. I wish to tell them, I want to contest assembly polls for the sake of Bihar. So that my dream of Bihar First, Bihari First is realised,' he said.
Paswan said that even though hurdles are being placed through his way, he won't be discouraged, adding that previous attempts to weaken him by splitting his party and creating rifts in his family had failed.
He urged his party workers to spread out across all 243 assembly constituencies and campaign for the NDA's victory with the same determination as if he himself were contesting.
'You give me NDA's victory in assembly polls. I will give you a developed Bihar,' he added.
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