Flanked by JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav, Kumar told the rally at the Gandhi Maidan here that the Centre was adopting a 'discriminatory' attitude towards Bihar as it rejected its repeated pleas to grant the special category status.
Kumar appealed to the people to vote for only that party in the 2014 general elections which would promise to deliver the special category status.
He demanded that the Centre set up a fresh committee to draw a strategy to provide special assistance to Bihar and other states who figure much below the national average in terms of per capita income, consumption of power, education, health among others, to bring them into mainstream.
Kumar also announced that JD(U) would hold a massive rally in Delhi's Ramlila maidan in March next year to put pressure on the Centre to provide the special status to Bihar to help it come at par with the national level on development indexes.
He said November 4 is an important date for the state and the country as it was on this day that the police had lathicharged Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan while he was leading a protest to gherao the Bihar Assembly and legislators as part of the 1974 movement.
"The lathicharge had shaken the chair of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi...Today's Adhikar rally is a strong message to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to stop discrimination against Bihar," Kumar said in his over 40-minutes speech. (MORE)
