Nitish Sounds Alarm on ‘Hindu Rashtra’ After Yogi’s Statement

Patna: Bihar chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar has slammed the idea of a Hindu Rashtra and termed it destructive and “contrary” to the idea of India.

“If anyone wants to make India a Hindu Rashtra, it would destroy the country. This is contrary to the idea of India. People of different religions live in the country,” Kumar told the media after attending a function in the state capital on Friday.

Kumar’s disagreement with BJP’s Hindutva politics, which comes two days after Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath described India as a “Hindu Rashtra”, assumes significance because he has repeatedly been talking about a united Opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Kumar said that people “only follow” what the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi had said. “There’s no value of what anyone else says.”

Without naming any particular organisation, Kumar said that Gandhi was “killed by those against his ideas but people have been following his path till date”.

“Gandhi stood for an India where unity is strength. Only the idea of Gandhi’s India is good for us,” he added.

Kumar also targeted the Centre over the I-T department raids at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The action against BBC is “a message to others not to speak, write and raise issues against the government”, he said.

Kumar has been vocal against his erstwhile coalition partner BJP in recent months and announced that he would start a countrywide march to unite the Opposition against the party soon.

Last month, Kumar said that he “would prefer to die” rather than realign with the BJP and accused it of lodging cases against his deputy Tejashwi Yadav “deliberately without basis”.

This is probably the first time after dumping the BJP and joining hands with the RJD, Congress and Left parties to form the ruling coalition last August, Kumar has cleared his stand. The JD-U has opposed the BJP on issues like population control law, CAA, NRC, Ayodhya, Article 370 and triple talaq and others.