Sunday, March 09, 2008

Make Bihar a job provider

DARBHANGA: In the backdrop of the recent attacks on north Indians, especially Biharis, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday tried to evoke the Bihari pride, asking the people to turn it into such a developed state that job-seekers from all over the country come here.

"It will be a befitting reply to those who have made insulting remarks against migrant Biharis and tried to whip up regional passions. We have got this knack of transforming challenges into opportunities," he said.

Addressing a meeting, Antarrashtriya Imam Ahmad Reza Conference, at Raj Ground here, Nitish urged the people to maintain restraint and not retaliate, otherwise "many people would succeed in their nefarious designs."

"Make constructive efforts to put the state on the path of development and give a befitting reply to the divisive forces which have hurt the Bihari pride," he said. "The people of Bihar may be impoverished but they are certainly not dishonest. They are extremely hard working. The migrant Biharis should remain wherever they are.

There is absolutely no need to panic. Each and every citizen has a right to live in any part of the country," he reiterated.

Without taking the names of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the CM said one should learn to respect sentiments of others. "Our people are our biggest assets," he said.

Nitish also made it clear that the Union government's silence over the Mumbai episode would not be tolerated anymore.

If they don't act firmly, it would be understood that both the Congress and Union government have given their tacit support to the whole episode, he said.

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