Patna: Asserting that youths were the harbinger of change in the society, the BJP on Sunday sought their support in its quest to claim power in the forthcoming Assembly Elections in Bihar.
"Bihar has more youth in comparison to any other state in India. They have given opportunity to Congress, 15 years to Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, 10 years to present chief minister Nitish Kumar. We appeal to them to give a chance to BJP also. We want to take the state ahead with prime minister Narendra Modi and Centre's help," senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.
Modi was speaking at a seminar on 'new government, good governance and youth politics' attended by Union minister for Skill development Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP general secretary and Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and party MP Gajendra Singh Sekhawat.
Sharing his experience from his early days in student politics and his part in JP Movement, Modi asked the youth not to see politics as a 'profession' but as a mission.
Speaking on the occasion, Rudy shared anecdotes from his political life spanning 25 years and said only 10 per cent people in politics have joined it either through family, agitation, movement, student politics, or by default like former Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh, or by dint of being a celebrity.
"These types of politicians did not harm politics. It is the other 90 per cent which have created hatred in common people's mind for politics. They mostly consisted of contractors and similar persons and their numbers have grown in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," Rudy said.
The Union minister alleged that politicians in Bihar
first divided the society on Hindu - Muslim lines to cater to their own selfish interests.
Former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad divided it further in backward castes and forward castes for his own benefit, he alleged.
"Then the present chief minister Nitish Kumar came and divided the backward castes and Scheduled Castes further into extremely backward castes, mahadalits and other categories. He even divided the Muslims into 'Pasmanda' and other groups. We hope that there are no more divisions now otherwise the state will not survive," Rudy said.
Hitting out at Prasad and Kumar, Rudy said, "Prasad is the same person who installed his wife as CM when he was sentenced to jail. He has been debarred by court from contesting elections, but the surprising thing is that Kumar forgot all his ethics and rules and shook hands with him (Prasad), and wants to take Bihar to 1990s."
Yadav, in his speech invoked the youth to work for the public and asked them whether they wanted to study rocket science or travel on 'tamtam' (single horse-drawn carriage) currently being used by Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to campaign for the forthcoming polls.
He also asked the youths present at the seminar whether they wanted electricity or 'lantern' (RJD election symbol) in the state.
"The youths need to check those people (Prasad and Kumar) who want to take Bihar to the days of 1990. They need to create awareness among public towards such designs to take the state backward," Yadav added.