PATNA: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday lavished praise on Bihar’s Nitish Kumar-led NDA government for its efforts to curb leftwing extremism and for ensuring a high growth rate in the state.
“The number of Naxal incidents has come down to less than half in Bihar since 2013. The number of deaths caused by Naxal attacks has dwindled to a third of what it used to be in the past… I would like to thank Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and police and para military forces for this,” said Singh at a function in Saran district where he inaugurated high-tech buildings for the sixth battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
The ITBP camp, built at the cost of over Rs 100 crore, is located at Kotheya under Jalalpur block of Saran district, about 13 km off Chapra. Spread over 70 acres, this is the first ITBP camp in Bihar, where about 1,000 jawans and officers are stationed.
Incidents of leftwing extremism (LWE) violence in Bihar have dropped significantly in the first quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period last year. As per Union home ministry data, only 13 LWE-related cases took place in the state between January and March this year compared to 26 during the same period in 2017. Casualty figures, however, remained the same – five – in both periods.
Praising the state’s eight-month-old NDA government for the state’s high growth rate, Singh said: “Bihar has clocked a growth rate of 10.3 per cent for the first time whereas the national growth stands at 7.3 per cent. Both Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi deserve praise for this”.
Rajnath Singh also praised Nitish Kumar’s enforcement of prohibition in Bihar as a “historic step” and said it has helped improve the lives of millions of people in the state.
The home minister appealed to the poor in Bihar and across the country to understand the design of the Maoist leaders to keep them poor. “The Maoists’ own children study in prominent colleges and universities and some of them even study abroad. The Maoist leaders have become crorepatis,” said Singh.
CM Nitish Kumar hoped the presence of youth from Bihar in ITBP grows higher than the present 7.7 per cent and demanded introduction of pre-examination training for the youths at ITBP’s Jalalpur camp. Bihar currently having only two ITBP camps, he also urged Singh to ensure opening of two more camps in the state.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi also demanded that training centres for youths aspiring to join ITBP be opened in Bihar. the function was attended, among others, by BJP MPs Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Janardan Singh Sigriwal.