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Vananchal will give Biharis self-reliance: BJP

A separate state of Vananchal would create a sense of self-reliance among the people of Bihar, Opposition leader in the state assembly Sushil Kumar Modi said on Monday.

Participating in the debate on the Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 1998, he maintained that his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, was in favour of sustained growth in south and north-central Bihar, and had urged the Centre for an economic package to facilitate Vananchal.

Modi charged the Rashtriya Janata Dal with "shedding crocodile tears" for the people of north-central Bihar and "changing its colour like a chameleon".

He said the Centre drafted the Reorganisation Bill acting on the resolution of the Bihar assembly to form a separate Jharkhand state -- but the RJD was now backing out of the resolution.

Modi said that even Jayaprakash Narayan, the late socialist leader, was in favour of dividing the state for its planned development.

He held the Congress and the RJD responsible for the perpetual backwardness of north-central Bihar, and the "smuggling" of mineral and forest wealth from South Bihar to other states. He observed that the Bihar did not benefit from the mineral and forest wealth of South Bihar in absence of adequate industrial infrastructure - but other states definitely did.

Though Congress leader in assembly Ramashray Prasad Singh supported the Bill, he alleged that the BJP had created an atmosphere of uncertainty and confusion by taking a decision to create Vananchal, Uttarakhand and Chhatisgarh states.

Appealing to his party members not to be swayed by sentiments but act with prudence, he said the bifurcation of Bihar would upset the balance between agriculture and industry in two parts of the state, according to the observation of the States Reorganisation Commission.

Outlining the Congress policy for integrated development of the entire state, he charged the BJP with indulging in politics in the name of proposed states.

Singh said the BJP was ''least concerned'' about the welfare of the tribals. This was evident in the changing of the nomenclature of the proposed state from Jharkhand to Vananchal.

He said the Congress could not support the stand of a ''divisive, separatist and communalist'' party like the BJP.

UNI

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