Bharatiya Janata Party MLC and former Union Minister Sanjay Paswan on Wednesday questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the issue of bringing back students stranded outside the State.
Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) heads the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the State.
“It’s the CM’s duty to bring back our children. It’s also causing us [the NDA] political loss. He should bring back all the children before May 3. Election is going to be held this year,” Mr. Paswan told a news agency in Patna. “Almost all middle class families have at least one child studying in Kota. The number of children may be only 1,000, but 1 lakh families are affected. If each of these families has five voters, that will be 5 lakh votes,” he said.
Earlier, in his video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Kumar had said there should be a uniform policy for all States to bring back stranded students and migrants. In the Patna High Court, the State government had said it was “sensitive to the plight of the students, but bringing them back would amount to violation of lockdown guidelines.” Several Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions have been filed for direction to the State government to bring back the students. The court has clubbed all the PILs and fixed May 5 for the next hearing.
Over 12,000 students from Bihar are stuck in various hostels and PG accommodations outside the State. While other States have brought back their students, Bihar is yet to take a decision. Recently, a BJP MLA from the State was given a special pass to go to Kota to bring back his daughter. The State government later placed the official who issued the pass under suspension.
Meanwhile, the Opposition RJD and Congress have been slamming Bihar Chief Minister on the issue. “Are the Chief Ministers who facilitated the return of their State’s students from Kota illiterate? Is Nitish Kumar the only one who has read the Disaster Management Act’ 2005? I feel the BJP will not fight the next election under his leadership,” said senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari.
The ruling party JD(U) leader Ajay Alok refused to be drawn into an argument. “When the Chief Minister has already shared the reasons for his decision with PM Narendra Modi in a virtual meeting earlier, what is the point in asking him why he is not taking any steps?... I think the States that facilitated the return of their students should declare whether they took permission from the Centre,” he said.
Later in the evening, the Centre issued orders allowing migrant labourers, students, pilgrims and tourists who do not have symptoms of COVID-19 to return to their home States. Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav tweeted that, “the government finally succumbed to our pressure.” Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi “thanked” the Central government.
