RJD ran industry of kidnapping, robbery, we are rebuilding Bihar: Amit Shah

At Patna’s Bapu Sabhagar auditorium, Shah, in his first public meeting since last year’s Lok Sabha polls, was welcomed amid chants of Jai Shri Ram. He said, “The Opposition (Congress and RJD) governments have completely destroyed the cooperative sector. From 1990 to 2005, Bihar had an industry of kidnapping, extortion and robbery. The state witnessed a spurt in caste massacres and state-sponsored corruption. Fodder scam brought big infamy to the state. Between 2004 and 2014, the Centre provided Rs 2.8 lakh crore to Bihar. We have been rebuilding Bihar. The central government led by PM Narendra Modi, has been helping the state government reopen 30 closed sugar mills.”

In Gopalganj, a stronghold of the RJD, Shah asked people to choose between “jungle raj” and development, and promised that if the NDA returns to power in polls due later this year, the state’s annual flood woe will become a thing of the past.

Addressing the youth as “mere jigar ke tukdon (piece of my heart)”, Shah said, “the likes of Lalu Prasad tried to create roadblocks for construction of Ayodhya temple. But PM Modi kept his promise to people by building a grand temple in Ayodhya. Now is the turn to build a grand temple of Mata Sita.”

Renovation of Sita temple at Punaura Dham — believed to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita — has been underway since last December.

Shah also took on Lalu for allegedly only promoting his family and said: “Laluji has done only one thing — unhone ne apne parivar ko set kiya (he has secured his family’s future). Both his sons were ministers and have been dreaming to become the CM. His one daughter (Misa Bharati) is an MP and another daughter (Rohini Acharya) contested last Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully. His two in-laws were MPs…”

Taking a dig at Congress and RJD, Shah said, “What did they do after winning elections? They got Muslim votes but hardly tried to prevent clashes.”

Shah said that after NDA came to power in Bihar, the state’s per capita income went up from Rs 8,000 in 2005 to Rs 66,000 in 2025 and below poverty line percentage went down from 56% to 31% during the same period. “The Modi government has been giving 5 kg of ration to 9 crore people and the government has given LPG cylinders to 1.7 crore households,” he said.

CM Nitish Kumar reiterated that it was a mistake to join hands with Mahagathbandhan twice and assured that he would never “desert NDA again”. “It was a mistake to join hands with them (RJD and Congress) twice. It was because of (wrong advice by) some people in my party.