‘Vote chor’ NDA govt also ‘zameen chor’ in Bihar, alleges Cong leader Kanhaiya Kumar
Patna (PTI): Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Saturday alleged that the NDA government which was formed through “vote chori” is also a “zameen chor (land grabber)” in Bihar.
He was referring to the NDA government at the Centre providing more than 1000 acres of land to the Adani Group allegedly at a “throwaway price” for setting up a power plant in Bihar’s Bhagalpur.
“The government formed through vote chori is also 'zameen chor, munafa khor (profiteer) and bachat chor' (revenue thief),” Kumar alleged at a press conference here.
The NDA government in Bihar is hell bent on diverting Bihar’s resources to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friends, he claimed.
Kumar said that the state Congress has initiated a series, “20 Saal, 20 Sawaal” (20 years, 20 questions), under which party leaders will question and “expose” the government on various issues concerning the people of Bihar.
The opposition party is alluding to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s 20-year rule of the state.
On the first day of the campaign, Kanhaiya Kumar raised questions on the allotment of 1,000 acres of land, allegedly at a rate of Re 1 per acre in Bhagalpur, to the Adani group.
Kumar claimed, “The Central government has diverted Rs 21,000 crore, allotted for a power plant project in the state, towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friend Adani.”
The project, initiated by the UPA government, has been hijacked by the NDA, the Congress leader alleged.
Kumar claimed that the Rs 1 lakh crore revenue accruing from the project, which was meant to benefit the people of Bihar, will now be appropriated by a corporate house.
“Adani has been signing power plant contracts at the promise of offering electricity at Rs 3-3.5 per unit elsewhere in the country, but when it comes to Bihar, the cost has been fixed over Rs 6 per unit,” he claimed.
Kumar said, “Even if the price was fixed at Rs 5 per unit, Bihar would have saved Rs 56,000 crore. The irony is that the government took the land from people at an old rate and has offered it to a corporate house by agreeing to new rates for electricity”.
The entire episode, Kumar summed up, leaves people with three questions: “Why was the corporate house given the land at a throwaway price? Why has the profit of Rs 1 lakh crore been diverted from the Bihar people to the corporate house? Why has the cost of electricity been fixed so high in the state as part of the project deal?”
He alleged that the government is planning to grab people’s land in Bihar under the guise of conducting a land survey.
The Congress leader said, “The government is acting as a ‘lathaith’ (a person adept in using sticks); it uses the sticks of governance and administration to benefit corporates at the cost of the poor people.”
He wondered what the “sick, useless double-engine government” had done for the people of the state in the last 20 years.
The Congress leader also criticised the NDA government for allegedly organising an RSS event at Rajasthan University on September 30, using people’s money.
“The university is a government property and cannot be allowed to become a breeding ground of any particular ideology,” he asserted.
Kumar alleged that NSUI protestors, who opposed the event in the BJP-ruled state, were harassed by the police.
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Protesters clash with police during torch rally in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): People protesting the death of two children in a recent bomb blast in Manipur clashed with security forces during a torch rally in the state capital Imphal, police said.
Two children died in a bomb blast at Tronglaobi in Bishnupur on April 7. The Imphal Valley districts have been witnessing daily protests over the incident.
A seven-km-long torch rally was brought out from Mayai Lambi to Keishamthong in Imphal West district on Monday night, but the participants turned violent and clashed with the security forces, a police officer said.
Security forces fired several rounds of tear gas shells in Keishamthong area after hundreds of protesters defying curfew demanded they be allowed to proceed for another 200 metres towards Keisampat area, which is close to the Lok Bhavan and the BJP state office, he said.
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Orders prohibiting the movement of any individuals outside their respective homes are in force in all the five valley districts from 5 pm to 5 am.
"Protesters pelted the security forces with stones and iron pellets from catapults, endangering the lives of the heavily outnumbered security forces," the officer said.
Manipur Police have, meanwhile, arrested 19 people for violating curfew and committing offences, including blocking roads and damaging public property, in the Greater Imphal area. They were nabbed from different parts of Imphal West district on Sunday, a police statement said.
In the Ukhrul district headquarters, a candlelight vigil was held on Monday night to honour the two Tangkhul Naga civilians who were killed in an ambush in TM Kasom area in the district on April 18.
Various civil society organisations from both the valley and hill areas strongly condemned the brutal killings, alleging that the victims were shot by Kuki militants using sniper rifles.
