Samastipur/Begusarai, Oct 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched an aggressive campaign in poll-bound Bihar, declaring that the NDA under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will “break all previous electoral records” and urged voters to reject the opposition RJD-Congress combine, calling its leaders “people out on bail”.
Blazing through the state with back-to-back rallies in Samastipur and Begusarai, Modi also sought to draw a contrast between a “fractured” opposition INDIA bloc and the “cohesive” NDA.
Modi said the BJP-led coalition, which included Chief Minister Kumar’s JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan, Hindustani Awam Morcha headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha led by Upendra Kushwaha, was united and focused on development.
All the alliance partners were present at the Prime Minister’s rally in Samastipur, where he also took exception to “stealing of the epithet Jan Nayak” (people’s hero), used for Rahul Gandhi by Congress workers in the recent past, even though it was largely associated with Karpoori Thakur, a former Bihar chief minister and Bharat Ratna awardee.
Ahead of his rallies, Modi visited Karpuri Gram, the paternal village of Thakur, to pay tributes to the socialist leader.
The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting to be held on November 14.
Reaching out to young voters, Modi said, “It was in October 2005 that your parents had brought ‘jungle raj’ (rule of RJD-Congress) to an end. Exactly 20 years later, you have a big responsibility on your shoulders, to facilitate prosperity (samriddhi) by voting in favour of good governance (sushasan)”.
Modi underscored the fact that the NDA was fighting the assembly polls “under the leadership of Nitish Kumar”, in an apparent rebuttal of the opposition charge that after the elections, the BJP was planning to replace the 75-year-old JD(U) president, who is seeking a record fifth consecutive term in office.
Noting that the BJP has been able to retain power in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, as well as Maharashtra, where it was heading a coalition government, the Prime Minister said such examples and the enthusiasm of people of Bihar show that the NDA would “break all previous records” in the upcoming polls.
He also expressed gratitude for the large turnout, saying he was overwhelmed by the love showered by the people and that the mood was clear that ‘nayi raftaar se chalega Bihar, jab fir se aayegi NDA sarkar’ (Bihar will move ahead with new momentum when the NDA government returns).
The Prime Minister also took a swipe at the INDIA bloc, calling it a “Mahalathbandhan” (grand alliance where partners beat each other with sticks), a wordplay on ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
He also alleged that leaders of the RJD and the Congress, the two largest constituents of the INDIA bloc, were “most corrupt and out on bail”.
He further said that despite having been out of power for decades, the two parties were arrogant enough to snub alliance partners like JMM, and “take for a ride” the Vikassheel Insaan Party, which did not get a favourable share of seats but its founder Mukesh Sahni has been promised the deputy CM’s post.
The Prime Minister also urged women voters, whom he called “worst sufferers of ‘jungle raj”, to “slam your doors shut on Congress and RJD”, and remember that leaders of these parties had opposed the women’s reservation bill when it was brought in Parliament.
“You cannot expect the RJD-Congress to solve any of your problems. They are a problem by themselves. They are insensitive people who have the nerve to mock poor flood victims”, Modi alleged.
Highlighting the NDA’s contribution to Bihar’s growth, the Prime Minister said, “In the last 11 years, the state has received three times more central assistance than under the UPA government, which had “the RJD blackmailing the Congress not to extend any help to the state, in a bid to take revenge upon the people for having voted Nitish Kumar to power”.
“Today, the state, which was once dependent on other states for its requirements, is exporting fish. Makhana, a famous produce of this land, has received a boost, and we have set up a Makhana board which will transform its cultivation and marketing”, said the PM.
He also made a mention of Maoist insurgency, which had “once plagued a dozen and a half districts of the state, claiming hundreds of lives” and said “now it has been effectively curbed in Bihar. Naxal menace will be wiped out completely from the country. This is the guarantee of Modi”.
Modi, who credited Karpoori Thakur with having “left a legacy that has enabled people from poor families like me to rise to prominence”, also raked up the “insult” faced by late Congress leader Sitaram Kesri, whom he called “the pride of Bihar”.
“Kesri hailed from a backward class and rose to become the Congress president. But at the instance of the parivaar (Nehru-Gandhi family), he was humiliated. He was locked inside a bathroom before being kicked out on the streets, and his top party post was also stolen”, alleged Modi.
The Prime Minister also thanked the people of Bihar for “always reposing your trust in Modi”, and said, referring to the recent cuts in GST rates,”the festival of Chhath is approaching and hope you are also enjoying the celebration of savings (bachat-utsav)”.
The Prime Minister began his Samastipur rally with a few sentences in Maithili, while in Begusarai, he spoke some lines in Angika. During the rally in Begusarai, he also described Padma Vibhushan awardee late folk singer Sharda Sinha as the “daughter-in-law of this land”. Incidentally, INDIA bloc’s chief minister face and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav also held a rally on Friday in Samastipur, where he rebutted Modi’s charge that ‘jungle raj’ prevailed during the RJD rule.
“The Prime Minister had himself recounted 55 scams of the Nitish Kumar government. What action has he taken? ‘Jungle raj’ is where no appropriate action is taken against scams, and where criminals roam free,” he claimed and alleged that the BJP-ruled states witness the most criminal activities in India. PTI PKD NAM BDC NAC MNB PYK PYK
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