Patna : With Narendra Modi seeking time from ex-servicemen to address the vexed issue of one-rank, one pension, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said Prime Minister’s promise on OROP was another ‘jumla’ as the one on black money even as he favoured inclusion of paramilitary personnel in the scheme.
“Now he (PM) is saying he had not thought that OROP issue would be so vexed… like black money he also made tall promises about OROP to get vote and has no clue how to move forward on the subject,” Kumar said. “Like the return of black money and giving Rs 15-20 lakh to poor out of it and providing enhanced Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers, which will be one-and-half times of the input cost, the OROP also seems merely a ‘jumla’ (popular saying) by the PM,” he told reporters after a ‘Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri’ programme.
The senior Janata Dal (United) leader slammed PM’s assertions during his monthly radio show “Mann ki Baat” yesterday and called for inclusion of paramilitary personnel for OROP. “Are the rates of commodities and health expenditure different for different category of people… paramilitary personnel does difficult jobs at the borders and should be included in OROP,” he said. “What kind of efficiency the Narendra Modi government is showing in which they have no commitment towards any of the poll promises?” Kumar said.
Criticising the BJP government at Centre, which just completed one year year in office, Kumar said the PM has spent 20 per cent of its “effective time” in power and was still seeking time to find a solution to the issue.
“Narendra Modi had promised to provide OROP at an election rally of ex-servicemen in Haryana… one year of his government has passed and still he is seeking more time,” Kumar said. The Bihar CM also hit hard at the BJP government in Centre for bringing an ordinance on Land Acquisition for the third time and said “this reflected the government’s ‘zid’ (obstinacy) to snatch land of farmers at any cost.”
After knowing well that the Land Bill cannot go through the Rajya Sabha, the government has been taking the ordinance route on the controversial issue, Kumar said and vowed to keep protesting over the subject. He attributed the recent cases of farmer suicides to “increase of distress among farmers due to the land bill and other anti-farmers policies of the NDA rule.”
