Union minister Chirag Paswan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s self-proclaimed “Hanuman”, on Saturday castigated the Nitish Kumar administration over the worsening law and order in Bihar and said he felt “sad” about supporting such a government.

This was merely the latest attack on the Nitish government from the NDA ally, at a time the poll-bound state has witnessed a crime spree. After a series of murders this month came Thursday’s alleged rape of a 26-year-old woman in an ambulance in Gaya as she was being rushed to hospital after fainting during a home guard recruitment drive.

The police on Friday arrested two ambulance staff — the driver and a technician.

Ahead of a rally of his Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) in Gaya on Saturday, Chirag told reporters: “I feel sad that I am supporting a government under which crime has become rampant. It is imperative to control it, else the consequences will be very bad.”

Chirag’s party is a minor partner in the NDA, with just one member in the state’s 243-member Assembly. But the young politician has been trying to project himself as the alliance’s mascot ahead of the polls, obliquely undercutting the chief minister’s party, the JDU.

Chirag, a Dalit and the Union food processing minister, has declared he would contest the upcoming Assembly polls from an unreserved seat.

As many times before, Chirag on Saturday slammed the state government without naming the chief minister. He accused the “state administration” of bowing before criminals.

“Crimes — murders, rapes, dacoities — are taking place one after the other. Although the police have acted by arresting the criminals, the question arises: “Why is the administration failing to stop the… incidents?” he said.

Alluding to a claim being made by the police and the JDU, Chirag said the possibility that the crimes are being committed to tarnish the government’s image can’t be ruled out.

“Still, it’s the administration’s responsibility to stop such crimes,” he said. “Either the administration has a hand in it, or it is trying to cover up these incidents, or it has become completely ineffective.”

Chirag had gone solo in the 2020 Assembly polls, projecting himself as “Modi’s Hanuman”. He had inflicted considerable damage on the JDU, reducing its tally by nearly half.

He has now returned to the NDA with 5 Lok Sabha members, and many within the JDU fear that he could again be aiming to damage their party in the upcoming polls.

Addressing the Gaya rally, Chirag appeared to draw a parallel between the states of affairs under Nitish — who has been in power for two decades — and previous
RJD governments.

“If crime in the 1990s (under RJD rule) was intolerable, then it should not be tolerated now, either,” he said.

Chirag urged people to support him in his efforts to develop the state and make it crime-free.

“Chirag Paswan alone will not be able to transform the situation. You all have to come together with my slogan of ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’,” he said.

The BJP, which has two deputy chief ministers in the state government, maintained silence but the JDU and another NDA partner, Hindustani Awam Morcha chief and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, hit back at Chirag.

“Chief minister Nitish Kumar enjoys the trust of Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and also the people of Bihar. If somebody is getting restless over this, nothing can be done about it,” JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said.

He lauded the police for their prompt action against crime.

Manjhi, the micro, small and medium enterprises minister in the Modi government, said Chirag should refrain from making such remarks in public.

“He is new to politics and hasn’t seen the situation in Bihar during RJD rule, when criminals enjoyed government patronage,” Manjhi, a Dalit like Chirag and a former chief minister, told reporters.

He implied that Chirag was trying to mount pressure on the alliance with his remarks to wangle more seats for his party.

Manjhi referred to Chirag’s decision to go solo in 2020 and added that now that he was part of the NDA, he should observe “alliance dharma” and wait for seat distribution talks.

“Chirag should know that Prime Minister Modi is the leader of the country while Nitishji is leading the NDA in Bihar,” he said.

Gaya rape arrests

Ambulance driver Vinay Kumar and technician Ajit Kumar have been arrested on the charge of raping the woman, who had fainted during a physical endurance test during the home guard recruitment drive.

Officers underlined that an FIR had been lodged, a medical examination conducted and the two accused promptly identified and arrested.

“A chargesheet will be submitted after a rapid investigation. A prompt trial will be ensured so that the guilty are given strict punishment,” Gaya senior superintendent of police Anand Kumar told reporters.

Last week, five gunmen had walked nonchalantly into a private hospital under the full glare of CCTV cameras, shot a patient dead and made their getaway unchallenged. The other murder victims include a prominent Patna businessman and a BJP farmer leader.

Tagging Modi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav chastised both the state and central governments.

“A daughter who came to participate in the Home Guard recruitment fainted and fell…was gang-raped in the ambulance called by the administration,” he posted on X.

He asked whether this should be called “demonic rule”, “depraved rule”, “mega-jungle rule” or “misrule of Modi-Nitish”. He described the two deputy chief ministers from the BJP as “useless”.

Ex-scribe pension hike

Nitish on Saturday announced an increase in the pension of retired journalists under the Bihar Patrakar Samman scheme by ₹9,000 per month.

Now, all eligible retired journalists, registered with the Bihar government, will receive ₹15,000 per month instead of the earlier monthly emolument of ₹6,000.

Announcing the decision, Nitish wrote on X: “I am pleased to inform that under the ‘Bihar Patrakar Samman’ pension scheme, instructions have been given to provide a monthly pension of ₹15,000 instead of ₹6,000 to all eligible journalists.”