Patna:
Janata Dal (United), a prominent NDA ally, has hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying a person who "failed to follow Rajdharma" with five crore people of a state won't be able to do "justice" with 125 crore people of the country.
"Modi has failed to discharge Rajdharma in Gujarat... when he can't do justice with five crore people of a state how will he be able to deliver justice to 125 crore of the country," JD(U) National Spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said.
Tiwari recalled that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had referred to "extra care" for Rajdharma, even during the post-Godhra riots.
"There are still a sense of fear and insecurity among the people in Gujarat," he said.
"The body language of Modi during his speech in Hindi after beginning his fast has been full of arrogance," he said adding Gujarat had always been "a prosperous and developed area" and even during the British rule, there were so many ports and vast groups of traders doing brisk business in that state with rich cultural heritage.
"Modi who normally addresses people of Gujarat in Gujarati has for the first time made speech in Hindi," Tiwari said, adding it reflected that Modi wanted to address the nation as "a changed personality."
"But even during his speech he has shown no regrets for what happened in Gujarat in 2002," Tiwari said.
The JD(U), though being an NDA constituent, has not been supportive of Modi's three-day fast which the Gujarat Chief Minister calls a fast for building communal harmony. Many say that he has seized this opportunity to build Brand Modi in the wake of speculation that the BJP may project him as the party's PM candidate for 2014 elections. But JD(U) backs Nitish Kumar is a claimant for the same job.