Patna, May 21 (IANS) Mukesh Sahani, leader of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and former Bihar cabinet minister, slammed the BJP and NDA government following a controversial remark by party state chief Dilip Jaiswal.

Jaiswal had sarcastically suggested that the Nishad community would not “carry the bags” of people coming from Mumbai.

Responding to Dilip Jaiswal, Sahani said that those who fight for their community’s future are often demeaned as “bag carriers,” but accused Nishad leaders within the BJP of carrying the “BJP’s metaphorical bags.”

Dilip Jaiswal, during an event in Muzaffarpur recently, said that the Nishad community people would not carry the bags of people coming from Mumbai.

Mukesh Sahani is a prominent set designer in Bollywood and has a great influence in this business. He came to Bihar and formed a political party just before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the 2020 Bihar assembly election, his party, VIP, won four seats while contesting 11 seats as a constituent partner of the NDA.

“The NDA government has failed to constitute the long-promised Nishad Commission despite being in power for two decades. Now, why are they constituting the Nishad Commission now?” Sahani said.

Reaffirming VIP’s commitment to securing a reservation for the Nishad community in Bihar, Sahani warned the BJP of misleading the community.

He emphasised that Nishads are politically aware and won’t be influenced easily.

On the election alliance, Sahani dismissed any internal seat-sharing disputes within the INDIA Bloc.

“We have ample seats to accommodate all allies within the INDIA Bloc. This time, a leader from the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) would become Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister,” Sahani said.

The INDIA Bloc comprises six parties, while the RJD is the biggest partner. Besides RJD, Congress, CPI-ML, CPI, CPI (M) and VIP are the other constituent parties of the INDIA Bloc.

–IANS

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