Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was running the government in Bihar using the face of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while ensuring that the “remote control” remained in its hands.

Addressing a rally in Muzaffarpur district ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed that the voices of the most backward communities are not being heard in the state.

“Nitishji’s face is being used,” he said. “The remote control is in the hands of the BJP…Three or four people control it. BJP controls it. They have the remote control in their hands, and they have nothing to do with social justice.”

The Assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled to be held on November 6 and November 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.

The Congress is part of the Opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, along with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, three Left parties, the Vikassheel Insaan Party and the Indian Inclusive Party.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar comprises the Janata Dal (United), the BJP, Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

On Wednesday, Gandhi accused the BJP led-Union government of being “against social justice”, asserting that it was due to the Congress’ insistence that it agreed to a caste census, PTI reported.

The Congress leader was referring to the Union Cabinet’s decision from April that caste will be enumerated in the next census. The announcement was in line with a long-standing demand by Opposition parties, which argued that such an exercise would help identify the true population of the country’s Other Backward Classes and other castes.

During the rally on Wednesday, Gandhi also claimed that “two Indias” were emerging – one that “belonged to the common people” and the “other to the five or 10 billionaires”, the news agency reported.

“This is the reason that places like Bihar suffer in poverty, with its vast potential remaining untapped,” the Congress leader said. “…[Prime Minister Narendra] Modi boasts of making cheap data available to the people. He hides the fact that a monopoly of one business house has been allowed in the telecom sector.”

The prime minister also kept silent on the destruction caused to the economy by demonetisation, Gandhi claimed.

The demonetisation of high-denomination currency notes was announced by Modi at 8 pm on November 7, 2016, and came into force at midnight. At the time, the BJP government had said that the exercise would eradicate black money from circulation.

Mahagathbandhan a ‘thug bandhan’: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also addressed an election rally in Bihar’s Darbhanga district on Wednesday.

He alleged that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav wanted to make his son Tejashwi Yadav the chief minister of Bihar, while Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wanted to make her son Rahul Gandhi the prime minister, PTI reported. “Both posts were not vacant,” the BJP leader said.

Tejashwi Yadav is the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly elections.

During the rally, Shah described the Opposition alliance as a “thug bandhan”, the news agency reported.

He claimed that Lalu Prasad Yadav was involved in a fodder, bitumen and land-for-jobs scam and the Congress in corruption cases worth Rs 12 lakh crore.

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