| "I belong to a lower caste. But not only have I been elected to the Lok Sabha several times, but also now to the Assembly. If anyone tells you development is a non-issue, this is simply not true. I have not just been elected to the Lok Sabha several times but now to the Bihar Assembly as well because the system, if allowed to work, has the capacity to do justice to the poor. The right to vote represents power," Kumar said. |
| He, however, said it would be a travesty of democracy if those in power were unable to create jobs for the people. |
| "The people of Bihar wanted change and have, therefore, given us the opportunity to develop the state. This verdict is unequivocal. There are no hung Assemblies, about which everyone was talking before the election," Kumar said at a conference organised by the Jagaran Forum on democracy, development and social inclusion. |
| Kumar said if the people had voted on the basis of caste or community, the Bihar verdict would have been different. He said the target of 10 per cent economic growth for India would not be possible if Bihar managed to achieve an annual growth rate of just 4 per cent. This, he felt, would create a distortion. |
| In what could only be a hint to neighbouring Nepal, he said that in this day and age, those who believed they could sustain anti-democratic regimes without freedom of the press, fundamental rights and civil liberties, were deluding themselves. |
| He conceded that as a system, democracy often took longer to act. But it always delivered justice because it represented common will and consent. |
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