Bihar polls: Nitish Kumar calls NDA's 'jungle raj' bluff

Begusarai/Samastipur, Oct 1: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday countered the charge of "jungle raj" made by the NDA and quoted figures from the National Crime Record Bureau in a bid to demonstrate that more crime had taken place in BJP-ruled states.

Kumar said according to the NCRB's latest report for 2014 more crimes had taken place in the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, than in Bihar, and wondered if a "mangal raj" prevailed there.

The JD(U) leader was addressing an election rally at Samastipur and Begusarai districts. He said at national level there were 229 heinous crimes per one lakh population in 2014.

The figure for Delhi, whose law and order is controlled by the Central government, is 764, he pointed out.

In Madhya Pradesh, the crime data was 358, Haryana 258, Chhattisgarh 229 and Gujarat 213 in 2014, Kumar said quoting the NCRB report.

"On the other hand, the crime figure for Bihar in the same NCRB report for 2014 is 174 per one lakh population. Bihar figures at 22nd position in the ranking of states," he added.

"With 174 crimes per one lakh population Bihar has 'jungle raj', whereas BJP-ruled states with much higher figures has 'mangal raj'?" Kumar asked expressing surprise and slammed the saffron party for spreading "lies".

The BJP-led NDA has used the slogan of "jungle raj-2" to deride Kumar's joining hands with Lalu Prasad whose party RJD's 15-year rule in Bihar has earned the tag of "jungle raj" due to spiked crime figures.

PTI