Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the prime participant at the anti-communal convention organised by the Left Front.
Nitish used the platform primarily to slam Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, terming him “fascist” without naming him.
A day earlier at Rajgir in Bihar, Nitish had countered all the allegations made by Modi at his
On Wednesday, Nitish again ridiculed Modi’s Prime Ministerial ambitions saying that “let anyone dream, even during the day, but the people of the country have other dreams”.
The development model pursued by Gujarat too came in for attack with Nitish claiming that growth should not be confined to just corporate houses. “Development becomes sustainable only when the poor are not left out,” said Nitish.
While underlining the fact that a Third Front is not emerging now, he wanted the democratic forces to remain together to take on “fascism”.
Parties regularly win and lose elections but it is a new trend to claim that “someone will be finished off. This is not the language of democracy,” said Nitish in an obvious reference to Modi.
Nitish set the tone of his attack on Modi saying at the outset that though as CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said he was on the “firing line”, the bullets fired at him would all rebound.
“When our party took the decision (to sever ties with the BJP), we were aware of the risks. But we took the decision on certain principles. It was not a gamble and now the political atmosphere is getting vitiated with communal exhibitionism,” said Nitish pointing to overt religious activities like “parikarama” and processions.
Referring to the blasts just hours ahead of Modi’s rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on Sunday, Nitish said terrorism and communalism are complementary. “Communal forces are benefiting from terrorism,” he said.