Patna: As Union Minister Amit Shah visits Bihar on Tuesday for the second time within a month, the Janata Dal-United (JDU) has taken a dig at the “desperation” of the Bharatiya Janta Party that was ousted from power in the state.
Shah will attend the 120th birth anniversary celebrations of the socialist icon, popularly known as JP at his birthplace in Saran district.
“BJP has nothing to do with the ideology of Jayaprakash Narayan and Shah’s visit to Bihar shows BJP’s fear of losing the ground in Bihar after the formation of a new government in the state,” according to a senior JDU leader.
Senior RJD leader and Ex-MP of the party told ANI that the BJP is seeking an opportunity through Jayaprakash Narayan Jayanti to find its feet but this time BJP will face a massive setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Hitting back at the Bihar Government, Opposition leader of Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha said, “Corruption, crime and nepotism in Bihar are promoted by those people who claim to follow the principle and ideology of Jayaprakash Narayan.”
“The Chief Minister of Bihar, former Chief Minister and RJD President who calls himself the so-called disciple of Jayaprakash Narayan will now have to tell the people of Bihar whether the ideology and principles of Lok Nayak have been used for public welfare?” Sinha said.
Kumar Sinha said that Shah’s visit to Bihar on Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary will motivate the people of the state to take a fresh pledge against the chaotic government of JDU – Grand alliance.
“Once again the foundation of the same mass movement will be strengthened in the same way as Jayaprakash Narayan had started against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency and the people ousted her from power,” he added.
Sinha further accused the state government of promoting casteism in the state, in contrast to Narayan’s ideology.
Notably, Shah will be addressing a public gathering in Bihar on Tuesday, which will be the second such public event being organised in the state’s bordering area within a span of one month after the JD(U) snapped its ties with the BJP
As per the sources, the Home Minister will also unveil the statue of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, the Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader, in the Sitab Diara area located on the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border on the occasion of his 120th birth anniversary.
Sitab Diara is the ancestral village of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, located on the UP-Bihar border.
After unveiling the statue of Jayaprakash Narayan, the Home Minister will address the public gathering around 12 noon on Tuesday in the Sitab Diara area in Bihar’s Saran district.
This would be Shah’s second visit to Bihar in three weeks. On September 23-24, Shah addressed the ‘Jan Bhavna Mahasabha’ and chaired the BJP State Core Committee meeting in Bihar’s Purnia and Kishanganj regions.
In August this year, the JD(U) snapped its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form government in the state.
Chairman of Jay-Prabha Foundation and Lok Sabha MP Virendra Singh welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for declaring the birth place of Jayaprakash Narayan, a national monument and Constructing a grand National Memorial building there.
Jayprakash Narayan, popularly known as Lok Nayak, launched massive peaceful agitation against the emergency.
Narayan was a socialist and political leader. He is remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition parties against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for whose overthrow he had called for a “total revolution”
(Sampoorna Kranti).
In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. Other awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965.
Jayprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902 in the village of Sitabdiara, Ballia district, United Provinces, British India (present-day Saran district, Bihar, India) Sitabdiara is a large village, straddling two states and three districts — Saran and Bhojpur in Bihar and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh.
