On the last day of the campaigning for the first phase of Bihar elections on November 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the women workers of the party for their contribution in strengthening the NDA, urging them to turn out in maximum numbers for voting to ensure a mega win for the alliance.
A battery of party’s senior leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party chief J P Nadda, also addressed rallies in Bihar in which they drew comparisons between ‘jungle raj’ when the RJD was in Bihar and the development the state has witnessed under the NDA rule.
“The people of Bihar have made up their mind; they will break the last 20 years’ record of the NDA’s victory… only the NDA can develop Bihar to its full potential,” the PM said during his virtual interaction with women workers as part of the ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ programme through the NaMo app.
“During 15 years of ‘jungle raj’, not even a single medical college came up. The NDA government has so far established six; work is ongoing on 10, and 10 more have been approved. Schemes like Ayushman Bharat and PM Jan Aushadi have made treatment cheaper… only an NDA government is the guarantee of a bright future for the women of Bihar,” he added.
Attacking the RJD-Congress combine over the issue of women’s safety, the PM said that during the era of ‘jungle raj’, it was difficult for women to step out of their homes, but now that is not the case. “Now, women work fearlessly in hospitals, railway stations and other places even during night hours,” he said.
“The women of Bihar have stood like a wall against jungle raj,” Modi said, adding that they have resolved to never allow the return of those unruly times. “This is the reason the proponents of ‘jungle raj’ are busy telling all sorts of lies to the women of Bihar,” he said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who addressed rallies in Motihari and Bettiah, warned Pakistan-sponsored terrorists to refrain from further attacking India, asserting that if they repeat the mistake, “goli ka jawab goley se diya jayega” (they will face cannons for bullets).
Explosives manufactured in Bihar’s proposed defence corridor will be used against these terrorists, he said. “Unlike the previous Congress regime, the government under Modi’s leadership is committed to the safety and security of the nation,” he alleged.
Shah launched a blistering attack on RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav for allegedly “raising slogans in the praise of gangster-turned-politician late Mohammad Shahabuddin, who unleashed terror in Siwan during the RJD’s 15-year rule in Bihar”.
In his speeches at Vaishali and Patna, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said there is not a single corruption case against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, asserting that only the NDA can make Bihar ‘viksit’. “In the coming years, under the leadership of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji, the NDA has decided that we will not rest until we make a ‘viksit’ Bihar,” he said.
At Bhojpur, Nadda said Bihar had been put on the track of development by the NDA government in the last 20 years and that the upcoming election was to provide more stability to the state in addition to giving a new momentum to its development.
“The state has discovered ‘HIRA’ under the BJP-led coalition. ‘H’ stands for highways, ‘I’ for internet, ‘R’ for railways and ‘A’ for airports. You all can vouch for the improvement on these counts in the last 20 years,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath addressed a rally in Mohiuddinnagar constituency where he said they will “wipe away all signs of slavery” and Mohiuddinnagar, a block in Samastipur district, will be renamed “Mohan Nagar” if the NDA is voted to power.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma at a rally in Raghunathpur segment of Siwan district, where Osama Shahab, the son of deceased former MP Mohd Shahabuddin, is making his debut on an RJD ticket, said his victory would mean a defeat for Hindus.
