Anurag Thakur reminds Bihari voters of Gabbar Singh to keep 'jungle raj' away

Patna, Oct 27: Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday used the iconic 'so ja bete nahi to Gabbar Singh aa jayega' dialogue of the 1975 Bollywood blockbuster 'Sholay' to warn people against Bihar's return to 'jungle raj' if the RJD was voted to power.

Thakur, the Union Minister of State for Finance, asked people to be wary of parties who want to push the state back to the era of caste tension and social discrimination.

"'So ja bete nahi to Gabbar Singh aa jayega'. Mothers, who have seen the jungle raj days in Bihar, please do tell your children, especially youth, on the polling day to cast their votes carefully, otherwise they (the RJD) may return to power....those who ran a regime of terror and fear," he told a press conference.

Terming the RJD-led Grand Alliance a "depressed and confused" lot, Thakur reminded the electorate how a series of massacres along caste lines occurred in Bihar before the party now leading the coalition exited from power in 2005. Representatives of allies JD(U) and HAM were present at the press conference.

"I just want to ask the RJD and its leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav why did he align with CPI(ML), tukde-tukde gangs, or those who believe in perpetrating massacres?" the union minister asked.

"Do they want to bring the jungle raj days back in Bihar, or do they want the state to witness bloodshed once again?" Thakur wondered how will the people trust Tejashwi Yadav, the opposition alliance's chief ministerial candidate, when he got even the photographs of his father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad removed from party's posters and hoardings.

The minister said Tejashwi also neglected his allies like the HAM of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, RLSP of former union minister Upendra Kushwaha and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Mukesh Sahni. All of them were forced to leave the Grand Alliance, he said.

Thakur exuded confidence that an NDA government will be formed in Bihar after the assembly election, particularly because the state's image had undergone a drastic makeover under the "double-engine growth" powered by the alliance governments at the Centre and the state.

He said the distinction between the 15 years of NDA rule and 15 years of Lalu-Rabri dispensation was clear from the per capita income, which stands at Rs 43,000 now against Rs 8,000 in 2005, the last year of the RJD government.

The state's growth rate has gone up from 3.5 per cent under the RJD to 11.5 per cent under the NDA government. Two AIIMS were set up in Bihar, besides central universities, engineering and medical colleges, power supply and road and rail connectivity were strengthened, he said.