Bihar Polls: What Are Tejashwi Yadav’s 11 Questions to PM Modi?

In a Facebook posed addressed to Narendra Modi, Tejashwi mentioned 11 questions which he wants the PM to answer.

Image of Tejashwi Yadav used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur / The Quint)

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav has posed 11 questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the latter visits poll-bound Bihar to address four back-to-back public gatherings.

In a Facebook post dated 1 November, Yadav said that he expects Prime Minister Modi to address issues related to the quality of life of people in Bihar as he visits the state to campaign for the BJP.

“I want to ask the honourable Prime Minister the following questions related to the betterment and development of Bihar because according to NITI Aayog’s report, Bihar is the worst state when it comes to standards of education and health,” he said.

Following are the questions mentioned by the RJD leader in his post:

1. Why is this “double-engined” Bihar government spending only 4 percent of the total budget on sanitation? And why is 70 percent of this 4 percent expenditure wasted because of corruption?
2. In Bihar, which is one of India’s poorest states, why is only 2% of the budget spent on dealing with malnutrition and starvation? Why is the state dealing with starvation even after 15 years of the NDA government?
3. Why is the youth in Bihar even after graduating with PhD, Engineering, MBA and MCA degrees forced to take up jobs of peon and gardener?
4. Why is Bihar the epicentre of unemployment and despite a double engine government why has the unemployment rate in the state reached a record high of 46.6 percent?
5. Why could the labourers who returned to Bihar during the lockdown not benefit from the Centre’s ‘Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan’? Why were they forced to again migrate to other states?
6. Why have the labourers not been paid for the word done under MNREGA in the last four months? Who is to be blamed for this, Centre or State?
7. Despite maximum districts of Bihar being covered under the ‘Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan’ why are the labourers living in poor conditions?
8. While 11 lakh families in Bihar were given a job card under MNREGA between April to August, why is it that only 2,132 families were able to complete 100 working days?
9. Why does the NDA government under Nitish Kumar spending only 2 percent of its total budget on Mahadalits?
10. How much of the 1,65,000 crore package announced by the Prime Minister in 2015 was spend on development work in the state? If the entire amount was not allotted, who is to be blamed?
11. Despite having a double engine government why has Bihar not been accorded with the status of a special state as promised by the PM in 2014?

PM Modi has so far addressed six rallies in Bihar and is scheduled to address a total of 16 rallies before polling ends on 7 November. Voting will take place in 94 of 243 Assembly constituencies in Bihar on Tuesday, 3 November, in the second phase of polling.