PATNA: Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, expressed disapproval of the Sangh Parivar's notion of India as a "Hindu" nation on Friday, emphasising how this ran against all Mahatma Gandhi stood for. The veteran socialist leader, who ended his long alliance with the BJP last year, was replying to questions from reporters about the "Hindu Rashtra" clamour, which his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, openly supported earlier this week.

"Anything that contradicts what Bapu stood for must not be heard. People of many religions coexist in this nation. Bapu was assassinated because he advocated for unity ", asserted Kumar, whose beliefs on governance are influenced by those of the Mahatma. A divergence from Gandhi's stance on secularism, the chief minister further cautioned, may result in perversions.

A product of the Bihar movement of 1974, the Chief Minsiter had aligned with the BJP way back in the 1990s and held key portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The longest-serving CM in Bihar came to power in 2005, and throughout his administration, he has resisted caving in to the BJP's "Hindutva" platform despite coalition.

He had concerns about the BJP leader running for office in Bihar because of his hardline "Hindutva" reputation as his former Gujarati counterpart, and he ended the agreement when it became clear that the saffron party sought to make the charismatic man its Prime Ministerial candidate.

While maintaining an unique ideological stance on important topics like Ayodhya, Article 370, triple talaq, and NRC, Kumar reunited with the BJP in 2017 before breaking from the coalition five years later.

The chief minister met with reporters outside of a gathering where his RJD deputy Tejashwi Yadav was also present. When RJD Member and former minister Sudhaker Singh claimed that the administration was "anti-farmer," he responded dismissively.

"These people have no idea how much we have done for farmers and how much progress has been made in the agriculture sector," retorted Kumar, refusing to give Singh's resistance any weight after Singh was forced to resign as agriculture minister and then given a show-cause order by his party for frequently hurling insults at the government.