Patna, India

The Indian government on Monday (Jul 22) denied the special category status to the eastern state of Bihar, currently governed by one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's closest allies Nitish Kumar. A member of parliament from Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JDU) had asked the finance ministry whether the special status was being considered for the state.

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Responding to this query, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary cleared the air over the matter, giving a blow to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner.

“The decision was made based on an integrated consideration of all factors and the peculiar situation of the state. Earlier, the request of Bihar for special category status was considered by an inter-ministerial group (IMG), which submitted its report on March 30, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for special category status for Bihar is not made out,” Chaudhary said in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament.

As soon as the announcement was made, Bihar's opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party took a shot at Nitish Kumar as well as PM Modi for playing politics over 'special state status'.

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“Bihar ko nahin milega Vishesh rajya ka darja (Bihar will not get special state status!),” the RJD posted on X.

“Nitish Kumar and JDU can now comfortably enjoy power at the Centre and continue doing hypocritical politics on 'special state status'!” the post read.

What is a special status?

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The special status helps a state receive more funding and tax recessions from the central government. The concept was first introduced in 1969 after the recommendations of the Fifth Finance Commission.

Northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are some states which got special status in the past.

However, it must be noted that the concept is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution of India and thus no state can force the central government to give it the said status.

Also read: India: After an entire train engine, robbers in Bihar steal 29-feet long mobile tower, probe on

Senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Amit Malviya, cited the lack of constitutional provisions to defend the decision of the central government.

He said the distinction between general and special category states was eliminated when the 14th Finance Commission came in in 2015, but a part of net shareable taxes for states was increased from 32 to 42 per cent for 2015-2020.

Watch: Bihar's bridge crisis: 12 collapses in 17 days

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"Currently, no additional states are being granted special category status, as the Constitution of India does not provide for such categorisation,” Malviya made it clear.

(With inputs from agencies)