JDU's Sanjay Singh calls Bihar Bandh 'useless', reminds of CM Nitish Kumar's reiteration

Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday retorted the 'Bihar Bandh' and asserted it to be useless as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reiterated that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented in Bihar. Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal called for Bihar bandh on December 21 in protest against the amended Citizenship Act. The Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), party supporters stopped the Darbhanga-New Delhi Bihar Sampark Kranti Superfast Express following the call of "Bihar-Bandh" against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Saturday, December 21. 

"Why should there be a bandh called by RJD when honourable Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said the NRC would not be implemented in Bihar. The left parties called for a bandh on December 19. People of Bihar have not forgotten the anarchy during the regime of RJD between 1990-2005. The right of peaceful protest is prevalent in democracy but during the bandh, the RJD will try to disrupt public order as that is their habit," Singh told ANI.

However, RJD leader Bhai Virendra took a jibe at JDU and said that the latter cannot adopt a dual policy as on one hand, it supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Parliament, on the one hand, it opposes NRC.

"There will be a peaceful bandh by RJD in the State today. People are voluntarily participating in the protest. There is no issue left with the JDU. They are sitting in the lap of BJP and RSS. They cannot have a dual policy where on the one hand they will support CAA in the Parliament and oppose NRC on the other," he said.

"We welcome the stand of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan's statement on CAA and NRC. We will not let the BJP and RSS divide the nation," he added. 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday announced that the NRC will not be implemented in Bihar. After attending a program at the Indian Road Congress in Patna, media persons asked Nitish Kumar about whether NRC will be implemented in Bihar.

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Bihar Bandh 

Alleging that CAA has blown the Constitution to smithereens, Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad's younger son, made the announcement late on night of December 14, urging all political and non-political outfits having "faith in the Constitution and the principle of justice" to take part in the bandh which was initially scheduled for December 22 but was later preponed so that the police recruitment exams next Sunday were not affected.

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(With Inputs from ANI)