Samastipur/Begusarai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday blazed through poll-bound Bihar with back-to-back rallies in Samastipur and Begusarai districts, calling upon voters to keep at bay the opposition RJD-Congress combine led by “people out on bail” and predicting a record-breaking victory for the NDA.
The PM also sought to underscore the contrast between a fractious INDIA bloc and the cohesive BJP-led coalition, which included Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha headed by Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, respectively, besides Rashtriya Lok Morcha headed by Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha.
The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results set to be announced on November 14.
Seeking to draw a contrast between a “fractured” opposition INDIA bloc and the “cohesive” NDA, Modi said the BJP-led coalition, which included Chief Minister Nitish 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 PM’s rally in Samastipur, where he also took exception to “stealing of the epithet Jan Nayak” (people’s hero), of late used for Rahul Gandhi by Congress workers, even though it was largely associated with Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur, whose native village he visited before addressing the rally.
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.
The PM also highlighted that the BJP has been able to retain power in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, as also Maharashtra, where it was heading a coalition government, and hoped “the NDA will break all previous records in the Bihar polls”.
The prime minister 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”, and, despite having been out of power for decades, they 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 PM 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”, the PM alleged.
Highlighting the NDA’s contribution to Bihar’s growth, the PM 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 PM also thanked the people of Bihar for “always reposing your trust in Modi”, and said, referring to the recent cuts in GST rates, “festival of Chhath is approaching and hope you are also enjoying the celebration of savings (bachat-utsav)”.
True to form, the PM began his Samastipur rally with a few sentences in Maithili, while in Begusarai, he spoke some lines in Angika. While in Samastipur, he paid tributes to Thakur, in Begusarai, he referred to Padma Vibhushan awardee late folk singer Sharda Sinha as the daughter-in-law of this land”.
