Lalu Prasad (top) & Nitish Kumar

Patna, Feb. 24: Reeling off the growth statistics, setting up the commission for the poor among the upper castes, transparency in battling out corruption besides the spirited logic to counter the Opposition’s charge of promoting “royal blood” in bureaucracy were the highlights of Nitish Kumar’s speech in the Bihar Assembly today.

“The people of Bihar have moved ahead of the narrow considerations of caste and creed. The feeling of Biharipan (Bihari sub-nationalism) is fast catching up with them that found manifestation in the Assembly poll results. Your (Opposition’s) caste calculations went for a toss because the voters no longer want to stay trapped in the narrow and outdated dogmas,” the chief minister said, replying to the debate on the governor’s address to the joint session of the state legislature on Tuesday.

Nitish was at his eloquent best, which even made the leader of Opposition, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who was so acerbic yesterday praise him. When Nitish time and again described 2004 as Lalu-Rabri regime’s golden age with Rabri as CM and Lalu as railway minister, Siddiqui said: “Our real golden age was when you (Nitish) and Lalu were together.” Once a bosom friend, Nitish had parted ways from Lalu in 1994.

Nitish visibly appeared bitten by Siddiqui’s accusation yesterday that he had been promoting “royal blood” (suggesting his own castes men) in bureaucracy.

“My father was a simple vaidya (ayurvedic healer), my grandfather was a farmer and I was born in a backward caste family,” Nitish said with emotion flowing through his words and asked: “Is the House an appropriate forum to discuss caste of the officials?”

Amidst loud applauds from the treasury bench, Nitish made a fervent appeal to the Opposition to rise above caste-ism and “narrow” politics, which put blinkers on their (read RJD-LJP leaders’) eyes disallowing them to see the changes taking place in the mind of the electorate in the last polls. “Your fate will be doomed further and it will be a happy situation for me if you failed to change your mind set,” he pointedly told Siddiqui.

He clarified that there were set rules for the deputation of the IAS and IPS officers at the Centre and in different states. “Bihar is woefully lacking in the required number of IAS and IPS officers. In such a situation we have been using the officers on deputation in the best possible way to serve the state. No other consideration than serving the people of the state in the best possible manner guides me in any of my decisions,” Nitish said.

He announced the setting up of Upper Caste Commission headed by the retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, D.K. Trivedi. The commission will identify the educationally and economically poor among the upper castes and suggest ways for amelioration of their condition on which the government will act.