Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday attacked Bihar's Nitish Kumar government, accusing it of deliberately showing inflated Muslim and Yadav population in the state's caste survey as part of its "appeasement politics".
Addressing a rally at Patahi in Muzaffarpur district, the senior BJP leader said that the decision to conduct the caste survey in the state was taken when Nitish Kumar's JD(U) was an NDA constituent.
"The decision to conduct the caste survey in Bihar was taken when the JD(U) was part of the NDA. But the way the survey was conducted reveals the ulterior design of the Mahagathbandhan government... population of Muslims and Yadavas were deliberately inflated during the exercise," he said.
"The Mahagathbandhan government is simply indulging in politics of appeasement and is not interested in the welfare of people belonging to other backward communities," he alleged.
Attacking the opposition INDIA alliance, of which both JD(U) and RJD are key members, Shah alleged that the only agenda of the bloc is to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Nitish Kumar should stop dreaming about becoming the next PM... that will never happen. The INDIA alliance did not even make him its convener. He is responsible for bringing back 'Gundaraaj' (rule of goons) in Bihar. 'Paltu Ram' (person who frequently changes stance) betrayed people's mandate by joining the Mahagathbandhan in 2022," he said.
Last year, the JD(U) severed ties with the BJP and joined the Mahagathbandhan alliance comprising Congress, RJD and Left parties.
Shah exuded confidence that the BJP would win all the 40 seats in Bihar in next year's Lok Sabha elections.
This was Shah's first visit to Bihar after the findings of the caste-based survey were made public on October 2.
The survey showed that OBCs and EBCs, who are traditional supporters of the JD(U) and its ally RJD, comprised more than 60 per cent of the state's population.
The influential upper castes were close to 10 per cent, as per the survey, the accuracy of which has been called into question by the BJP.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led NDA had won 39 of the 40 seats in Bihar, barring Kishanganj, which was bagged by the Congress.
-With PTI Input
