Patna: With three Union ministers from Bihar—Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan—finding a place in the newly constituted NITI Aayog, JD(U) on Wednesday once again raised the pitch for special status to the state asserting it is their “right”.
“The demand for special status or special financial package is our right. This must be fulfilled,” JD(U)’s national spokesperson Rajib Ranjan told the mediapersons on Wednesday.
Blaming the previous Congress govts at the Centre and RJD govt’s “misgovernance” in the state for state’s backwardness, the JD(U) spokesperson said the inequality gap has become so wide that it cannot be fulfilled without an economic boost.“Therefore, the special status or special package is a must for the state,” he asserted, adding the latest report of the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals also justifies their claim.
However, the analysts are not very hopeful of state’s long-pending demand getting fulfilled. They said the observations by two Union ministers, minister of micro, small and medium enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi and food processing industries minister Chirag Paswan in this regard, give a clue to what’s in store.
“The Centre wants the three Union ministers to seek benefits under the existing mechanisms, without placing the demand for special status,” political analyst NK Choudhary said on Wednesday. He said although the demand for special category status is justified in case of Bihar but of late it has become a “political issue”.
Another analyst DM Diwakar said the difference of opinion among the Bihar ministers itself is the major obstacles in state’s long-pending demand. “Even if JD(U) minister Lalan Singh speaks in favour of special category status, his two ministerial colleagues have made their stands very clear. So, the fulfilment of this demand looks just impossible,” Diwakar, who served as the director of the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, said.
Manjhi has gone on record stating that seeking for special status is like banging head against a wall. “NITI Aayog has already made it clear that no state will be given special category status…This issue is like banging head against a wall,” was how Manjhi told the media a couple of days back.
Blaming politicians for “politicising” this demand, Chirag said those who politicise the issue should read the provisions of the NITI Aayog. “Those who politicise this issue should read the provisions of NITI Aayog. With this demand you are distancing yourself from even the things that we can obtain. Let’s be practical and focus on what we can get immediately. We are demanding a special package on behalf of the NDA govt for Bihar,” Chirag told a news agency on Tuesday.