Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 16: As the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is preparing for the formation of another government in Bihar after its landslide victory in the just-completed state Assembly elections, the newly-formed Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), which failed to even open its account, has accused the chief minister of “diverting” funds received from the World Bank for some projects, to “buy votes” in the elections.
Uday Singh, the national president of the JSP, launched by the poll strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor has claimed that the chief minister Nitish Kumar with the help of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi “diverted” Rs 14,000 crores of the Rs 21,000 crores loan received from the World Bank were “diverted for doles and freebies.”
“Since June, till polls were announced, Rs 40,000 crore was splurged” by the Nitish Kumar government to “purchase” votes of the people through public money, he said. “The scale was unprecedented. Even Rs 14,000 crore of the loan they received from the World Bank has been diverted for doles and freebies,” he alleged.
The party spokesman and a key strategist of the party, Pavan Varma alleged that the Narendra Modi government diverted World Bank funds intended for a different project and used them during the Bihar Assembly elections, distributing the money to women voters in the state. He claimed that ₹10,000 was reportedly credited to the bank accounts of 1.25 crore women voters as part of the “Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana.”
“The public debt in Bihar is at present 4,06,000 crores. The interest per day is 63 crores. The treasury is empty. We have information which could be wrong, also that the amount of ₹10,000 given to women in the state was given from ₹21,000 crores, which came from the World Bank for some other project. An hour before the moral code of conduct for the polls, ₹14,000 crores were taken out and distributed to 1.25 crore women in the state,” he alleged.
“As I have said, this is our information. If it is wrong, I seek forgiveness. But if it is true, then the question arises as to how far this is ethical. It is possible that, legally, you cannot do anything. The government can divert funds and later give explanations. Explanation will come after the election,” he said. There was no immediate reaction from any NDA leader or the Bihar government.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Uday Singh also said, “It must have been the first time that people kept getting the money till a day before voting took place, despite the model code of conduct. This was enough to sway women who may have been hand-to-mouth.” He said BJP-led NDA would have been decimated had public money not been “splurged to buy out votes.”
“Please remember that it was not until the Jan Suraaj Party promised Rs 2,000 old age pension that the government raised the amount from Rs 700 to Rs 1,100 per month,” Singh said. He also said a section of JSP voters ended up siding with the NDA “out of fear of the return of jungle raj under the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).”
“I can say there was fear of the return of jungle raj under the RJD. Although I am not saying that there has been any jungle raj, the fear was there. Many people, who would have given us a chance, ended up voting for the NDA out of that fear,” the former BJP MP said.
Pavan Varma also noted that rumours were circulating in Bihar claiming that if the NDA was not elected, the remaining funds would not be released. He added, “There are four crore women voters in Bihar, and 2.5 crores have not received the amount. The remaining women felt that if the NDA does not come to power, then we will not receive the benefit. Our ambitions being a new party were excessive, but our message was right and the response was good.”
Responding to a question on whether welfare initiatives like the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana would become the deciding factor in the elections, he noted that Prime Minister Modi has previously criticised the practice of offering freebies. “PM Modi has himself criticised giving freebies. Maybe he had said it in the context of the Delhi Assembly and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Now what happened in Bihar?” he said.
He rejected the idea that the party’s weak performance in the Bihar Assembly elections was due to founder Prashant Kishor’s promise to lift liquor ban if elected. Varma argued that the liquor prohibition was not being effectively enforced in the state, claiming that alcohol was readily available and even delivered to homes at inflated prices. He stated, “The withdrawal of the liquor ban would have been the issue if it had actually been in place in Bihar. Liquor is being sold at every nook and corner. It is being home delivered. It is being sold at higher prices. People are consuming it and paying more for it. Would that not affect women who have to run their homes?”
Varma attributed the party’s defeat to several factors, including the last-minute transfer of ₹10,000 and the ruling alliance’s outreach to women.
He added that, despite the so-called prohibition in Bihar, more than two lakh people, mostly from extremely backward Dalit communities, have been imprisoned for violating the liquor ban, many of whom cannot even afford bail.
“People are consuming it and paying more for it. Would that not affect women who have to run their homes? People from extremely backward classes are jailed under the prohibitory law, who don’t even have the money to pay the bail… The reason for our loss was what Nitish Ji did for women and the last moment transfer of ₹10,000…” Varma said.
