Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided to rename his proposed “Mahila Samvad Yatra” as “Pragati Yatra”
| Photo Credit: PTI
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided to rename his proposed “Mahila Samvad Yatra” as “Pragati Yatra” and now it will begin on December 23. The yatra was initially planned for December 15.
However, the yatra had to be postponed after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad triggered a controversy, and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav promised a cash transfer scheme for women in the State. The RJD chief had remarked that the Chief Minister intended to “ogle at women” with the public outreach programme.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav has called the yatra as wastage of public money.
The Bihar Cabinet has approved the expenditure of ₹225 crore for the Yatra of Mr. Kumar. While responding to a question from journalists about Mr. Kumar’s yatra, the former Union Minister Mr. Prasad had said, “Nayan Sekne Ja Rahe Hai[He is going to stare at women].
The first phase of his Yatra will conclude in Vaishali district on December 28. Mr. Kumar, however has not changed the place to begin the Yatra and it will commence from Valmikinagar in West Champaran district. He will cover six districts – West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and Vaishali – in the first phase.
Earlier, the Mahila Samvad Yatra was scheduled to start from December 15. However, on the eve of the yatra, the RJD promised a cash transfer scheme of monthly assistance of ₹2,500 to women.
S. Siddharth, Additional Chief Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, formally issued the letter on Tuesday, stating that during the yatra, the Chief Minister will hold review meetings in respective districts.
Reacting to renaming the yatra, Mr. Yadav said in Madhepura, “Due to his habit, character, conduct and fickleness, Nitish Kumar ji has changed the name of the same yatra several times in a fortnight. First Mahila Samvad, then Samaj Sudhar and now Pragati Yatra. This shows how mentally disturbed and unstable he has become.”
He then put forward ten questions to the Chief Minister and urged him to answer before going to yatra.
“How many problems raised by public representatives during the Samadhan Yatra have been resolved? How many problems registered in the Samadhan Yatra are still unresolved despite assurances and instructions? Is he not guilty of those problems remaining unresolved?,” Mr. Yadav asked.
He further asked, “Why have not the public grievances raised by the people in the Chief Minister’s Janata Darbar been redressed yet? Is this journey not a free hand for the officers to loot? In this journey, will he review the progress of liquor being available in every house, the connivance of police in the liquor ban and the failure of the liquor ban?”.
Lashing out at his yatra, Mr. Yadav said it was being undertaken by a “tired Chief Minister” and “retired officer” to extort money from district-level officers by threatening them of transfer.
Before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Kumar had launched “Samadhan Yatra” and travelled across the State, meeting people and talking about the developmental work by his government, which resulted in winning 12 parliamentary seats.
Most of the time, Mr. Kumar has got the benefit of his yatra except Sankalp Yatra before the 2014 Lok Sabha election in which JD(U) had won only two seats.
Published – December 18, 2024 05:11 am IST
