Concept of 'Hindu Rashtra' against Mahatma Gandhi's ideals: Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday frowned upon the Sangh Parivars concept of India as a Hindu nation underscoring that this militated against what Mahatma Gandhi stood forThe veteran socialist leader who ended his long alliance with the BJP last year was responding to queries from journalists about the Hindu rashtra clamour which was openly endorsed earlier this week by his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi AdityanathWe must not listen to anything that goes against what Bapu stood for In this country people of all religions live together Bapu stood for unity and this was the reason for his assassination said Kumar who draws inspiration from the Mahatmas views in formulating his ideas of governanceThe chief minister also warned that any deviation from Gandhis insistence on secularism could lead to perversions jo isse kuchh alag karna chahta hai vo ulta pulta karna chahta haiAlso Read JDU suffered after allying with BJP in 2017 Bihar CM Nitish KumarA product of the Bihar movement of 1974 Kumar had aligned with the BJP way back in the 1990s and held important portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee governmentThe longest serving CM assumed power in Bihar in 2005 and his rule has been marked by a refusal to give in to the BJPs Hindutva plank despite allianceThe hardline Hindutva image of his then Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi had caused him to have reservations about the BJP leader campaigning for elections in Bihar and break the alliance when it became evident that the saffron party wanted to make the charismatic leader its Prime Ministerial candidateKumar realigned with the BJP in 2017 only to call off the alliance five years later but maintained a distinct ideological position on key issues like Ayodhya Article 370 triple talaq and NRCThe chief minister spoke to journalists on the sidelines of a function where his deputy Tejashwi Yadav of current ally RJD was also presentHe reacted dismissively to the allegations of RJDs MLA and former minister Sudhaker Singh that the government was antifarmerThese people have no idea how much has been done by us for farmers and how much progress has been made in agriculture sector said Kumar refusing to give any importance to the recalcitrance of Singh who was first made to resign as agriculture minister and thereafter served with a show cause by his party for frequent vituperations against the governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever