Maintain social harmony, peace, appeals CM

JEHANABAD: Contrary to making any hard-hitting speech, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday chose to make a fervent appeal to the people to maintain social harmony and peace so as to reach newer heights of development in Bihar.
Addressing a public meeting at Nehalpur village in Jehanabad after laying the foundation and inaugurating a series of development works worth over Rs 242 crore in the district through remote control, the CM said over 12,000 road bridges have been built in Bihar during the past seven years and hundreds of them are still under construction."To me, these bridges are not merely inanimate cement-concrete structures, these are, in fact, symbols of trust to bridge the social divide," he added.
Lambasting the Congress for putting Bihar's special category status demand on the back-burner for sheer political reasons, he said that it was an insult to the dignity and prestige of Bihar. "We are, however, not going to sit idle but continue to fight for special status, which is the right of every Bihari. I expect you to give a befitting reply to all such political forces who are responsible for scuttling Bihar's genuine demand," he said. Taking umbrage at the statement of a Gujarat minister blaming Bihari and UP migrants for adding to poverty in Gujarat, the CM said apart from being insulting, it amounts to demeaning the hard-working Biharis. He said if the migrant workers from Bihar do not go to Gujarat, who will manage their ports and add glitter to their raw gemstones? Biharis are not burden on anybody, they instead lighten the burden of others. He exhorted the people to take a pledge to help build a Bihar where nobody will ever need to go out in search of livelihood.
Integral development in every sector with justice to all is his government's motto. "My sincere endeavour has all along been to bridge the prevailing social gaps and not to create fissures," he said while making an emotional appeal to the people to remain vigilant and defeat the sinister designs of vested interests who are making false electoral promises in view of the coming general elections. "I know that people of Bihar have tasted the fruit of development and seen the light of knowledge and hence they are not at all in a mood to go back to the dark days of the jungle raj."
Among others who spoke on the occasion included SC and ST welfare minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi, Jehanabad MLA Abhiram Sharma, Atari MLA KN Yadav, Sherghati MLA Binod Yadav and Digha Patna MLA Poonam Devi.