Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav lock horns in Bihar Assembly over law and order situation in state

PATNA: Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav went hard on the Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar on the issue of law and order in the state during the Assembly session on Tuesday.

Yadav, citing data, attacked Nitish Kumar-led NDA government during the motion of thanks to the Governor.

Tejashwi Yadav cited that only 97,850 cases of crimes were registered during the Lalu Prasad government when he handed over the power to Nitish Kumar in 2005 from 1990.

"But the number of crimes have increased to 1,96,911 in 2018 during the 13 years of NDA government, registering a big jump of 102 per cent of crimes," he said, citing the NCR data of crimes.

Countering the term "jungle Raj", which is still being used by the NDA to describe the 15 years of both Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi's rule, Tejashwi Yadav asked whose regime suited to be branded as "Jungle Raj"-- the Nitish Kumar or Lalu Yadav or Rabri Devi years?

Tejashwi Yadav said that total crime in 1990 (when his father Lalu Yadav was the Chief Minister) in Bihar was 1,24,414, which dwindled to 97,850 only in 2005-the year RJD lost the power?

"But in 2018,the total number of crimes rose to 1,96,911 registering a rise of 102 per cent under the Nitish Kumar rule. So, whose regime deserves to be dubbed as the Jungle Raj," he said.

Replying to the law and order issues later in the House, chief minister Nitish Kumar countered Tejashwi's allegations citing that Bihar has improved in the Crime Indiex and had gone down from 23 position to 25 in the country.

The chief minister claimed that a rule of law has been established in the state from those days when no one dared to venture out in the evening for fear of becoming the 'victims of lawlessness.'

According to an official figure of Bihar police, a total number of 2,69,096 cognizable crimes, including 3,138 murders, 1,450 rapes and 43 kidnapping cases were registered in Bihar in 2019 followed by a total number of  2,57,506 cognizable crimes, including 3,149 murders and 1,438 rapes in 2020.