Nitish
wows diaspora, says 'hum kisi se kam nahin'
Hyderabad, January 8, 2005
Sajjan Singh Thakur
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may have been
the darling of NRI investors, but his Bihar counterpart
Nitish Kumar was no less.
He stole the heart of the Diaspora at the International
Convention Centre, during an interactive session with
states at the second day of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
2006.
Nitish, the understated-self that he is, with his
impeccable Hindi and incredibly frank admission of
Bihar's backwardness, "a legacy he got",
won the hearts of many.
And yet, he was never short of confidence that he
would turn Bihar "into a beautiful state once
investments start pouring".
Even as Modi told Nitish, "Aapka Bihar pavillion
beautiful hai", the latter hastened to add, "Abhi
pavillion beautiful hai, baad mein state beautiful
hoga" (Right now the pavillion is beautiful,
later on the state will be beautiful too).
Ask Amar Dixit, a young NRI pursuing major at Johns
Hopkins University. "I think this man (Nitish)
was at his candid best. What impressed me most was
his Hindi. Seventy per cent of the delegates love
Hindi and all of them, I think, loved to hear him
especially after the Lalu era is gone."
People outside India want to see the development
of Bihar and India as a whole, he avers.
In a short speech, laced with wit and humour, Nitish
appealed to all overseas Indians and NRIs to make
Bihar a developed state, and invest in industries,
IT-tourism sectors, sugar mills, agro-procession units
and educational institutions where students from outside
"would come to study", just like the "glorious
days of Nalanda-Vikramshila University".
Quoting President APJ Abdul Kalam, "If India
is to succeed, Bihar must prosper," Nitish pleaded
to the Diaspora to make use of "our biggest capital
- human resources - so that after some years we Biharis
can also say, 'Hum kisi se kam nahi'."
FICCI's survey, presented at the session, putting
Bihar at the lowest ladder of the development (Gujarat
was in the elite group) may have weighed heavily on
the state CM, but he put up a brave front, saying,
"Humein Bihar vikas ka janadesh mila hai"
(We have got people's verdict to develop Bihar).
"We will not disappoint you, we have already
initiated measured to control law and order and improve
state infrastructure, come lend us your helping hand
to realise our dream to restore Bihar its lost glory,
he told the NRIs.
Only if his PR men were a little smarter in showcasing
Bihar, at a separate press briefing later, things
could be different. Alas that would be asking for
the moon!
