Patna, (Bihar Times): At least at one place the BJP,
the Congerss and the Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders
shared the dais. This was at the Vaishya Ekta Maha
Rally organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vaishya Mahasabha
on Sunday.
Leaders cutting across the 56 Vaishya sub-castes and
political parties stressed the need for unity within
the community.
The Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, however,
tried to give it a political colour by claiming that
the state government had taken several steps to
safeguard the interests of the trading community,
farmers and workers.
Improvement in law and order and reduction in taxes
imposed by marketing boards are some of the steps
which have helped the trading communities, he said.
Modi said that it was for the first time in the
history of Bihar that a person of the Vaishya
community was holding the post of Deputy Chief
Minister. Hinting at the likely expansion of the
Nitish ministry he said the interests of the community
would be taken care of in the cabinet expansion as
well.
Union Minister for Company Affairs and RJD leader
Premchand Gupta and national president of the
Mahasabha Girish Kumar Sanghi, who is the Rajya Sabha
MP of Congress from Andhra Pradesh, underlined the
need for unity in the community. The latter also
stressed on the importance of eduation and donated Rs
two crore for the construction of a hostel for Vaishya
students in Patna.
Muzaffarpur MLA, Vijendra Choudhary, made a fiery
speech at the rally and said that Vaishyas should
exhibit unity to get their due share in power.
There was repeated claim in the rally that the
population of the community is 22 per cent in the
state and that castes having less percentage of votes
are ruling the roost whereas the Vaishyas have been a
deprived lot. Interestingly, the figure of 22 per cent
is almost three times of the general perception about
the community’s population.
Unlike in the last rally where only Sushil Modi called
the shot this time politicians of different hue and
colour not only shared the platform but refrained from
attacking each other.
