Amit Shah Promises Flood-Free Bihar, Warns Voters Against Return Of ‘Jungle Raj’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the NDA would make Bihar free from floods if voted back to power, while urging people to prevent the “return of jungle raj” under the opposition INDIA bloc.

Addressing election rallies in Muzaffarpur and Vaishali, Shah appealed to voters to back the NDA to “check the recurrence of ‘jungle raj’ witnessed during the RJD regime” in the state.

“If voted to power, the NDA will make Bihar flood-free. It is our pledge. We will set up a separate ministry to ensure that Bihar is saved from flood fury,” Shah said, according to PTI. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “chalked out a scheme to ensure water from Koshi, Ganga and Gandak rivers reaches farmers’ fields for irrigation in Bihar”.

Targeting RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shah alleged that if the opposition came to power, “three more new portfolios will be created to oversee kidnapping, extortion and murder... Your votes for the NDA will save Bihar from RJD’s ‘jungle raj’.” He claimed “efforts are underway to bring back ‘jungle raj’ with new faces”.

The Home Minister also said “infighting is underway among ‘Mahagathbandhan’ constituents”, but the NDA’s five partners — the BJP, JD(U), Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas), HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s party — were united and determined to “take the state to new heights”. He described them as the “five Pandavas” working for Bihar’s prosperity.

Shah accused RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of “trying to make their sons the Bihar chief minister and the prime minister, respectively”, adding that “both posts are not vacant”. He also alleged that “Lalu & company and Rahul & company indulged in Rs 12 lakh crore scams and corruption”.

Citing figures, Shah claimed that during Lalu Prasad’s rule, Bihar received only Rs 2.80 lakh crore in central allocations, compared with Rs 18.15 lakh crore provided under the Modi government between 2014 and 2025. He added that Nitish Kumar’s two decades in office and Modi’s 11 years at the Centre had been “transparent with no corruption charges levelled”.

Outlining the NDA’s development agenda, Shah said the alliance would set up over 50,000 cottage industries and invest Rs 1 lakh crore in agriculture infrastructure. “Can Lalu-Rabri or Sonia do such development works?” he asked.

He also announced that a Mega Industrial Park would be established in Vaishali on 1,243 acres, creating thousands of jobs, and promised to “restore the lost glory” of the Licchavi period.

Referring to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people, Shah said PM Modi had given a “befitting reply” to Pakistan within ten days. “During Sonia, Manmohan, Lalu’s regimes, ‘Biryani’ used to be served to terrorists attacking India, while PM Modi ensured terrorists were neutralised in their homes,” he said.

Listing welfare measures, Shah mentioned that the reduction in GST would help litchi growers and that a Rs 20,000 crore mega food park would be set up in Muzaffarpur. He said Bihar had become the first state to export rail engines and had established an engineering cluster in Gaya.

A special Vande Bharat train, he added, would connect Sitamarhi, believed to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita, with Ayodhya once the Sita Temple is completed at a cost of Rs 850 crore. The project, he said, would boost tourism in the region.

Highlighting promises in the NDA manifesto, Shah said one crore young people in Bihar would be given jobs in the private and public sectors, each district would have a mega skill centre, and farmers would receive Rs 3,000 from the state in addition to the Rs 6,000 provided by the Centre. “As many as 44,000 youth benefited from the Mukhyamantri Udyami Yojana,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI)