Nitish Kumar woos women voters, cites Bihar's liquor ban

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday sought to woo the women voters in the run-up to the three-phase Assembly elections, pointing out different decisions his government took to benefit women, including ban on liquor in the eastern state.

Bihar has a total of 7,21,40,945 electorate, including 3,80,88,338 men, 3,42,50,262 women and 2,339 transgenders.

"People targeted me when my government announced the liquor ban in Bihar. It was in the larger interest of society, especially women, who voiced a strong demand for the ban. Now, it is yielding great results. Our mothers and sisters are immensely relieved by this move," Kumar said while addressing a second virtual rally for NDA candidates in 13 constituencies going to polls in the first phase.

"Similarly, we implemented the school-dress policy for girl students to encourage them to attend school. We also started the bicycle scheme for girl students above the middle classes. People in opposition targeted us that crimes against women and girls will increase. But what was the result? After a couple of years, boys also demanded bicycles from our government and we did that too," he said.

Taking a dig at RJD leader Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, he said: When the husband-wife government was there in Bihar for 15 years, only one panchayat election was held, in 2000. After our government came to power in 2005, we held three such elections. Moreover, we have also given 50% reservation to women in panchayat elections," the Chief Minister said.

"Now, we are giving Rs 5 lakh grant to every small-scale industrial project owned by women. If such project's cost is Rs 10 lakh, Rs 5 lakh will be given as interest-free loan," he said.

"I have mentioned Bihar's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of 2006-07 on Monday. In 2005-06, the first year of our governance, the GSDP was Rs 76,466 crore. In 2019-20, the GSDP has reached to 4,14,979 crore. The per year growth rate from 2005-06 to 2019-20 is above 12%. Per capita income in Bihar in 2005-06 was Rs 8,481 and it is now Rs 34,413," the JD-U leader said.

"We believe in work and our job is to work for every person in Bihar. On the other hand, the husband-wife government always thought of their own family. They believed in dynastic approach to promote their own sons, daughters, and relatives. They are expert in snatching money from others while we always think of working for the welfare of each and every resident of Bihar. Entire Bihar is my family," Kumar added.

"Now, their sons are shouting at us. I urge the people of Bihar to judge us on the basis of the work we did and what the situation was when we came to power. I also urge you to avoid getting influenced by the opposition. We have a vision and will continue our developmental work in the next 5 years," Nitish Kumar said.

The Bihar elections are scheduled to be held on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Counting of votes will take place on November 10 and results out the same day.

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