Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mention of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Darbhanga has triggered a war of words between the state government and the Centre.
During his recent virtual address to the Panchayati Raj Parishad in West Bengal, the Prime Minister had mentioned that the AIIMS in Darbhanga was now open.
Bihar Health Minister Tejashwi Yadav has called out the Prime Minister and accused him of lying blatantly. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya responded to him saying that the Modi government believes in "politics of development" and not "politics in development" while urging Tejashwi to provide suitable land for the construction of AIIMS in Darbhanga.
Responding to the minister, Tejashwi tweeted, "What kind of invisible development politics is this where the Ministry of Health has not yet finalized the site for AIIMS and the respected Prime Minister is saying that AIIMS has been opened there?"
“From the time period you are describing, till many years before that, the health minister had been of BJP in Bihar. Perhaps you are pointing out their failure," Tejashwi added in his tweet.
He also uploaded a letter on social media, which he had written to Mandaviya in June this year, asking him to construct the AIIMS in Darbhanga.
Tejashwi also uploaded a video statement, saying Modi is lying to the people of the country.
"I want to ask the PM to get the right information from the respective officials. It is not a good thing that PM Narendra Modi would tell lies. There is no AIIMS open in Darbhanga. CM Nitish Kumar is making efforts in this matter and allocated land worth Rs 151 crore. But, BJP didn't sanction it. BJP was involved in stopping the construction of AIIMS Darbhanga," he said in the video.
Senior JD (U) minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is a prominent leader from the Mithilanchal region of the state, also attacked the Centre on the issue and remarked, “Respected Prime Minister, You have been given wrong information in the Darbhanga AIIMS case. But, now that you have said that AIIMS has been opened in Darbhanga, then get this work done soon for the benefit of the people of Bihar including Mithila. Let me inform you that till now not even a single brick has been laid on the land given by the state government for AIIMS, Darbhanga about which you are saying that it has been opened.”
The row over AIIMS Dharbanga started when the central government rejected the plot of land that was handed over to them by the state government in 2023 for the proposed project on the grounds that it was unsuitable and asked the Bihar government to provide an alternative land.
(With additional inputs from Express News Service)