Q&A with Ram Vilas Paswan: ‘Mr Kumar will not come back to power’

What are the issues that the National Democratic Alliance has based its campaign for the Bihar Assembly elections on?

The contest in Bihar will be fought purely on the issue of development and nothing else. After the formation of the NDA government at the Centre we began working in this direction and it is our commitment to help those states where no development took place in the last so many years. It’s in our agenda to develop this state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also shown great concern for Bihar.

You talk of development, but it seems that the election is being fought between Mr Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The two leaders can’t be compared. Mr Kumar is trying to draw a bigger line. Mr Modi is the Prime Minister and you know the kind of response he has been getting. People want development and not slogans — Mr Kumar and his partners are good at slogans. What do you think Lalu Prasad Yadav is doing? He has become a mimicry artist and no one is taking their (Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav’s) so-called “grand secular alliance” seriously. Mr Kumar has failed and will not come back to power despite all his efforts.

Whenever there is any program that features Mr Modi in Bihar, Mr Kumar tries to gain out of it through his statements and catchy slogans. His vote base in Bihar? He is banking heavily on Mr Yadav and the Congress, hoping that by getting into an alliance with them, the minorities, dalits and extremely backward castes will fall into his pocket. But the fact is that Mr Yadav has lost his charisma and his MYD (Muslim-Yadav-Dalit) combination doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t need to say anything about the Congress as they lost their base in Bihar a long time ago.

Why has the NDA not declared a chief ministerial candidate? You don’t think there is a leader amongst you who can give Nitish Kumar a tough fight?

I don’t see Mr Kumar as a strong leader and as far as declaring a chief ministerial candidate is concerned, it will be decided by the Prime Minister. The question of fear doesn’t arise as, even earlier, in several states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, Mr Modi was the face of the NDA and we performed well.

What about yourself?

No, I have said this many times earlier as well that I am not in the race to become chief minister of Bihar. I want to remain in national politics. You must be aware of the fact that even Mr Kumar had approached me in 2005 and asked me to become the chief minister of Bihar, but I had refused the offer and told him that I wanted a Muslim to become chief minister. They talk about secularism, but turn their back when they need to prove it. I have always wanted a minority candidate to become chief minister of Bihar.

Is there a rift within the NDA over seat sharing?

My party raised this issue a few days ago and had asked the BJP to resolve it at the earliest as all of us want to finalise candidates on time. There is no problem regarding this and I hope everything will be settled within a week. I would also like to assure everyone that there is no rift. We will sit together and decide it amicably.

What is your reaction to the BIMARU tag for Bihar? Do you really think there has been no development under the JD(U) in the last 10 years?

Mr Kumar, if he is feeling hurt by Bihar being called BIMARU, must show work done during his government in the state, and if he was so interested in the development of Bihar, then why did he ignore bridges and flyovers and focus all his attention on museums? He only knows how to give statements. Our sole interest is to develop this state and we are working on it. A Rs 1.25 lakh crore development package was announced by the Prime Minister recently.

What is your reaction to the controversy over the Prime Minister’s DNA remark?

Mr Kumar is insulting Bihar by claiming that his DNA is the DNA of the whole of Bihar. What is he trying to say by making such baseless statements? He has gone too low in his hunger for power. Mr Modi never questioned Mr Kumar’s DNA, but he commented on his political DNA. Mr Kumar blew it out of proportion thinking that people will believe him.