Respected voters,

In the severe phase of the covid-19 epidemic, while the people of the country are facing unprecedented crisis, Bihar assembly elections are going to be held. We appeal to you that during this critical crisis, you have to participate in these elections in a timely manner to protect your health as well as to protect Bihar and the country.

You yourself must have realized that while the whole world was taking various measures to save its people from the Covid epidemic, the Narendra Modi government of India also took such decisions in the name of saving the people from Corona that the public of country woke up triumphantly. You will not forget the sudden decision of Deshbandi (Lockdown) taken by the Narendra Modi government, due to which majority of the working people of the country have become penurious by the livelihood. The people of Bihar were the most affected by this arbitrary decision of the Central Government, because we all know that the most toiling people in search of livelihood go to other states in search of work. It is not considered that the stove of the majority of the country’s population runs from his daily income, so how can he maintain his and his family without any help. We saw that only a few days later, the streets of the country showed such a heart-rending scene that we had not imagined. Thousands of migrant laborers walked hundreds of kilometers – thousands of kilometers on foot towards their villages and homes in the hope. Among them, hundreds of working people – children also lost their lives due to hunger and thirst. You know, the largest number of these migrants were from our state Bihar. Overcoming all the difficulties, when our citizens reached their villages, the state’s Nitish government, adopting the kind of neglectful attitude, would not let the migrant citizens ‘enter Bihar’ for their own migrant citizens, Nitish Kumar’s Nitish Kumar’s snobbish attitude towards millions of migrants who had come to seek shelter in their motherland in times of crisis was like ‘sprinkling salt on the burn’.

We should not forget about the BJP-JDU coalition government headed by Nitish Kumar, who talks about good governance and development, that this government was formed by betrayal of Nitish Kumar to the people of Bihar. He joined hands with the same BJP in the greed of power against which the people rejected in the mandate. The way the BJP has pushed Bihar into a state of disrepair by climbing over Nitish’s shoulder is clearly visible in this regime of alleged good governance Babu.

You will not forget the Muzaffarpur girl child scandal in which the Nitish government kept trying to save the criminals for a long time, similar attitude was also in the Srijan scam. Bihar is also at the top in crimes with the remaining BJP ruled states, Gujarat – Madhya Pradesh – Uttar Pradesh.

There is no sector left from education – health – employment to farming – farming which is not facing the bad conditions in the BJP-Nitish double engine government. Nitish Sarkar, who has been repeatedly garlanding development and good governance, has treated the BJP’s neglectful treatment of the citizens of Bihar in the present Corona period is nothing short of a criminal act. In the hope of relief, the migrants who returned to their homes were left in their condition. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave up on his own merriment even when the various states were bringing youngsters – students from other parts of the country – to their homes for education and training. It was not even that during this period of Corona some special measures were taken for the health security of the citizens living in Bihar. Due to the poor health system in the state, due to lack of timely treatment, dozens of Corona affected people lost their lives. They range from ordinary citizens to many bureaucrats. Not only this, the health sector is in a state of disrepair that the death rate of doctors in Bihar during the Corona period is nine times the national average. According to the WHO, there should be one doctor per 1000 population, but in Bihar, on average 43,788 citizens have only one doctor. These facts clear the picture about the state of health and development in Bihar.

The same story of badhali is also in the field of education in our state. There is no area from primary to higher education where a better picture is seen. In the BJP-JDU government, Bihar ranks 19th among the 20 major states of the country in terms of primary and secondary education and second from the bottom in terms of quality of education. Bihar, which has the lowest literacy rate in the country, has 62 percent of its students enrolled in primary school not completing their education and only one percent of students have access to matriculation. Spraying salt in the burn, Nitish government closed 3000 primary schools. In Nitish Raj itself, our state was embarrassed due to the incidents of paper leaks in school children’s bicycles, dress and scholarships and competitive examinations scam. Patna University could not be granted Central University status even after continuous promises. There is not a single university or college in the state which has been ranked in the top 100 of the country. Before coming to the government, Nitish Kumar made a false promise to the 5 desimal land for every poor. Like all his promises, when the poor people sought to implement this promise on forgetting this promise, the Nitish government ordered lathi charge at the poor demanding land for housing. Not only this, but in the name of water, land and greenery, a bulldozer was launched on the houses of the poor and the campaign to destroy the poor. On questioning this in the Assembly, Nitish Kumar has made clear his commitment by calling any such demand rubbish as to which class he serves to nurture the interests of the class.

Not only this, there is no section of society that is not facing worse conditions in Nitish – BJP government. Thousands of posts are lying vacant in various departments of Central and State Government in Bihar. While following the path of the central government, the Bihar government is also promoting privatization in the electricity, municipal bodies, health and other departments. On the other hand, under contract, contract, honorarium, incentive etc., a large number of scheme workers are taking work for more than 12 hours by paying less than minimum wage. The women workers of Asha, cook, Anganwadi, self-help groups and Jeevika have repeatedly raised the demand for respectable and safe employment, but Nitish Sarkar has consistently ignored their legitimate demands. Nitish Sarkar has also consistently ignored the demand for equal pay for work like contract teachers, computer operators, office assistants. To save admission and reservation in jobs and panchayati raj single posts, the Nitish Kumar-BJP government also kept silence like other matters.

Prime Minister Modi and BJP say that ‘if Nitish ji is with us then everything is possible’ This is completely true. By keeping Nitish Kumar together, the BJP has succeeded in making Bihar a laboratory of its communal and divisive politics and is now trying to get Bihar’s power fully occupied. If this happens, it will be nothing but a nightmare for the people of Bihar. Neighboring state Uttar Pradesh is an example of this, where on the instructions of the BJP government, there is an endless series of police terror, fake encounters and upper caste feudal and communal violence on Dalits, Muslims and women. Now the BJP’s intention is to make Bihar a graveyard of democracy and freedom by implementing its rich divisive agenda. Will this be the future of Bihar? No, we should not allow this to happen. Respected voters, this election is going to be held on the occasion of such a crisis, when the BJP has been campaigning to hand over every region of the country to the corporate and its favorite Ambani-Adani. The farmers vowed to take away their land and produce, their employment from laborers and livelihood opportunities in a respectable way, guaranteeing better education and employment from the youth of the country and snatching away their security and respect from minorities – Dalits – Adivasis – women. Every citizen committed to the country’s constitution – democracy – human rights and egalitarian society is being targeted. Dozens of intellectuals including the country’s leading intellectuals – Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardhaj, Anand Teltumde, Gautam Navlakha, Rona Wilson, Varvara Rao have been jailed in false cases. From the Delhi riots to the recent incident with a daughter of a Dalit family in Hathras, who were protesting against the incident of burning her overnight without the consent of the family are being targeted by the government.

All these dangers are also present in front of the people of Bihar, that is why in these elections any attempt to rebuild the Nitish-BJP government will have to be thwarted strongly for the better future of Bihar. The All India People’s Forum (AIPF) is a forum of groups – individuals – constitution – organizations fighting for democracy and human rights – to counter the ever-increasing fascist menace under the leadership of the BJP. We appeal to the people of Bihar that you have to bear the responsibility of saving Bihar and the country by reiterating the history of your glorious struggles against the plight of Bihar under Nitish – BJP rule and support the Democratic – Progressive – leftist forces, they have the option of genuine democracy against fascism is to be presented to the country.

Released by Girija Pathak from All India People’s Forum Secretariat.