Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui at the news meet in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Feb. 21: Crime, corruption and mistakes in school textbooks — these are bouncers of the Opposition that the state government will have to fend in the coming Assembly session, said Opposition leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui at a news meet today.

The first deadly ammo in the Opposition’s armoury concerns how the National Anthem in an Urdu textbook has been printed incorrectly, said Siddiqui.

“An Urdu textbook for classes IV to VI, published by Bihar State Textbook Publishing Corporation, has printed the National Anthem wrong,” said Siddiqui.

“Schoolchildren are following the mistake. This is an insult to the martyrs who fought for our country. But the government is not serious about the issue,” he said.

The leader of the Opposition also said: “Many children must be reading and memorising the wrong words of the National Anthem.

“We shall tell Nitish Kumar and his government about the mistakes,” he said

Pre-empting, how the state government will try to defend itself from the allegation, Siddiqui said: “They will probably reply that it is a printing error. But such mistakes should not occur even in the wildest dreams. The government is playing with the future of children,”

Explaining the mistake in the anthem composed by Rabindranath Tagore, Siddiqui said: “The tenth line of the National Anthem has been written wrong. Instead of ‘Jana gana mangaldhayak jaya he’ it has been printed ‘Jana gana mana adhinayaka jaya he’.”

That is not the only mistake in the anthem, said Siddiqui.

Explaining the other glaring error, the senior RJD leader said: “Also, in the last line, instead of printing the word ‘jaya’ four times, it has been printed thrice. This displays complete ignorance of the National Anthem. We will raise the issue in the Assembly session.”

This error, however, is not only one of the many arrows that the Opposition will fire at the Nitish Kumar-led state government.

Corruption and crime, especially murder, rape and loot, will be on the top of the Opposition’s list.

“The Assembly session will begin tomorrow. We have planned to question the NDA government over these issues. Corruption and crime have destroyed the very essence of democracy in the state. There is insecurity among the people of the state. We will challenge the government on these issues,” said Siddiqui.

He also said: “Since the NDA returned to power, the number of loot and robbery has increased in the state. The condition of traffic has worsened in Patna. All these issue will be raised during the Assembly session.

“The government should not think that since the Opposition is small in number we shall not raise our voice. Our presence will be felt in the Assembly. We will not beat around the bush but argue and debate based on truth,” added Siddiqui.

Siddiqui also said the Nitish Kumar government has not been utilising the exchequer in best way and has been spending crores on non-productive work.