Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Dilip Jaiswal launched a sharp critique of Tejashwi Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), questioning their stance on reservations.
Speaking to ANI, Jaiswal challenged the RJD’s track record, asking, “Did anyone get reservation during their (RJD’s) tenure?… They did not give reservations; on the other hand, when Nitish Kumar made reservation provisions, he (Tejashwi Yadav) opposed it?”
Further attacking Yadav, Jaiswal accused him of hypocrisy and remarked, “Who can be a bigger ‘cannibal’ than a leader who has been convicted in the fodder scam?” His remarks were intended to highlight what he perceives as the RJD’s failure to support reservation policies while criticizing Yadav’s role in Bihar’s political scenario.
In response, Tejashwi Yadav accused the BJP of undermining reservations in Bihar. In a post on X, he alleged that the 65% reservation provided by the previous government, in which the RJD was a part, was not included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution by the BJP-led central government.
Yadav stated, “Just like there is a cannibal, similarly BJP is a reservation eater and a reservation thief. In a short tenure of 17 months the 65% reservation increased by us for Dalits-Adivasis and backward-most backward classes after caste census was not included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution by the BJP-NDA Central Government and got it entangled in a case.”
He further claimed, “Due to non-implementation of 65% reservation in more than 350000 jobs under process in Bihar, the candidates from SC/ST, OBC and most backward classes are suffering the direct loss of 16 % reservation, due to which more than 50000 youth from these classes have lost their jobs. Everyone has to unite and teach a lesson to the reservation thieves BJP-NDA.”
The RJD also criticized the central government for allegedly neglecting Bihar by denying it special state status. It accused the BJP-led government of failing to address key issues such as employment, healthcare, industrial development, migration, and disaster management.
The party stated in a post on X, “Bihar, which needed the most financial help and special state status, was once again ignored by the BJP-NDA government in the Union Budget. No special state status, no discussion on employment, no expenditure on improving health facilities, no arrangement for factories and industries, no detailed plan to stop migration, no trains and no major investment projects and no special financial assistance for permanent solutions to disasters like floods and droughts. Will the BJP and its allies continue to ignore the voice of Bihar? The NDA government of 20 years in the state and 11 years in the Centre will have to answer. In 2025, everyone will be held accountable, there will be a change in Bihar.”
