Facing criticism over his support to the amended citizenship law, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said he "guaranteed" that minorities will not get a raw deal "as long as we are around".
"Just look at the efforts we made for the uplift of the minorities. Those who were in power earlier are engaged in inciting people. They should tell us what the minorities got during their reign," Kumar said at a public meeting here during his 'Jal Jeevan Hariyali' Yatra.
"There are people who are engaged in the business of whipping up passions. But we believe in serving all and taking every social segment along. And we guarantee that as long as we are around, the minorities will not get a raw deal," said the Chief Minister, who is also the national president of the JD(U).
Kumar ended his nearly 45-minute-long speech, focused mostly on climate change and environment conservation, with an appeal to all the people of Bihar to take part in a proposed human chain for which they would need to stand for 30 minutes with hands held together.
Opposition parties have accused Kumar of compromising on his professed commitment to secularism by supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Parliament.
Many top office-bearers of the JD(U), including national vice-president Prashant Kishor and national general secretaries Pavan Varma and Ghulam Rasool Balyawi have openly expressed opposition to the party's stand.