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Nitish Kumar

Gopalganj, Bihar:  Launching another attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today questioned his government on repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the border and Chinese incursion in Indian territories.

Mr Kumar was speaking in Gopalganj on the second day of his Sampark Yatra or mass contact programme through which he plans to defend his turf against the BJP’s advances in Bihar, where state elections will be held next year.

"The world is mocking us over what happened at the border. What happened to your 56-inch chest? If you have a 56-inch chest, do something. Give special status to Bihar and we will believe that you honour your words," Mr Kumar said.

The Janata Dal (United) leader also slammed the PM for not fullfilling promises made to bring back black money to the country even after 150 days of coming to power.

Mr Kumar launched his mass contact programme from Bettiah in the West Champaran district on Thursday, where he played out excerpts from Mr Modi’s Lok Sabha campaign in Bihar to allege that after becoming PM he had forgotten about Bihar, which gave the BJP 22 of its 40 Lok Sabha seats.

"The acche din (good days) of the jhaadu (broom) are here," said the former Bihar chief minister and explained, "Someone was just saying that India may not have become clean, but the price of jhaadus has certainly gone up. First you place garbage and then you clean it."

The allusion was to recent reports that organisers of some Swachch Bharat or Clean India events have dumped garbage in places for VIPs to clean in a photo op. The "acche din" was sarcastically borrowed from the BJP’s promise during the national election of good days once a Modi government took charge.

The BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain has retorted, "Nitish Kumar should worry about his party... Bihar has a special place in Modi’s heart. We will ensure its development."

Mr Kumar had resigned as Bihar chief minister in May this year after old ally the BJP decimated his Janata Dal United in the national elections.