Valmiki Nagar: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday backed population-based reservation for castes, but said it can only be implemented after census data is available.
Addressing a poll rally here, he also attacked the Rashtriya Janata Dal, RJD over its record on law and order and ridiculed Tejashwi Yadav's promise of 10 lakh jobs. He repeatedly told the people that his government has worked for the development of Bihar in cooperation with the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Election for Lok Sabha seat in Valmiki Nagar will be on November 7. The by-election was necessitated due to death of JD(U) MP Baidyanath Mahto. Kumar headed party nominated Mahto's son Sunil Kumar for the seat. "As far as the question of population is concerned it would be decided only after the census and that decision is not in our hands. We would propose reservation to be proportionate to the population of castes," he said.
In his speech on Thursday, Kumar did not specify if he was talking about caste-based census data, he often demanded that the 2021 census would bring that data. He had said on several occasion in the past that all castes should get reservation proportionate to their population.
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He said that the people gave him 15 years to serve and if they elect his government again he would discuss with the people the problems that were not addressed and work on them. On Yadav's promise of sanctioning 10 lakh government jobs in his first cabinet meeting, Kumar said, "One crore students passed 10, plus two exams in the past 10 years, why not give job to all of them?"
"Will the funds come from sky for these jobs?" he mockingly asked. Kumar claimed that when the RJD was in power for 15 years, it gave jobs to just 95,000 people, while during his 15-rule six lakh people got jobs and along with other opportunities.
He addressed a rally at Sikta assembly seat too, where he said, "Some people want to create discord in the society, but I request you with folded hands to live with harmony." He once again said that for him entire Bihar is family, whereas "some people" work just for their family which includes husband, wife and children. His barb was apparently directed at his bete noire Lalu Prasad.
He said some people are "unhappy" with him for imposing prohibition. He said earlier there used to be numerous incidents of murder and massacres, but his government has controlled crime and established the rule of law. He said that his government ensured development along with justice for all sections of society including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes and Mahadalits.
PTI
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