Nitish Kumar on bandh demanding special status for Bihar: highlights

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is sitting on a dharna at Patna's Gandhi Maidan demanding special status for the state.

Here are the highlights of his speech:

• I am thankful to everyone for coming here
• I had announced that the bandh would be voluntary . And so we took out processions and we also beat utensils
• This was a different kind of programme . We put forward our feelings
• We made it clear we will not tolerate the injustice meted out to Bihar
• We had a very successful march, and then a successful dharna too. I noticed that 70 percent people were here for the entire duration of the dharna
• I wanted time from the Prime Minister for this, but he never gave us time . So we ran a signature campaign and then handed them to the prime minister
• A committe was then formed. They did not listen to us properly . It seemed they had already decided against us
• We had to use RTI to access this report. We found out the report said we should get help but Bihar can't be given special status.
• We naturally opposed this and said if you can't use current standards then please change the parameters
• I started an adhikar yatra. People wanted to sabotage my yatra. But I had to suspend my programme only for a day
• Then, we held a rally on November 04 , 2012 at Patna and it was huge . And then in 2013 we had a rally at Ramlila Maidan and the turnout surprised even us
• Then Delhi made another committee, the Raghuram Rajan committee We were accepted to be a part of the extremely backward states and the committee recommended extra help for us and other states
• What does special category mean? Industries will get tax sops, hence our people will not need to go outside and the state will develop
• Industrialisation is very important
• If the state has more money to spare, we could use that for the betterment of rural Bihar
• Those states who have got special status have developed. We have the highest growth rate in the country. Yet we need 25 years to match up to government standards
• I have no idea why the Raghuram Rajan committee report was put into cold storage
• Then we decided we will make special status an electoral issue
• When Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, Seemandhra got special status in 24 hours. We have no objection
• But when the government wanted, they gave the special status within 24 hours
• But they are biased towards Bihar
• It's a matter of self respect and pride for us
• What parameters were followed for giving special category status to Seemandhra?
• We will not tolerate this. So, we decided to call a bandh 
• Everyone has a right to be anywhere in this country . Yet our poverty has become a matter of a joke
• If the people of Bihar go anywhere, we contribute to the growth of that particular place
• Why should we have to travel anywhere? I would like if everyone stays in Bihar
• A lot of people will try to misguide you. When Seemandhra happened, the BJP was involved in getting special status too for the state.
• But they remember us only for votes. Why didn't they ask for special status for Bihar then?