Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that the "NDA under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar" will break all previous electoral records in the Bihar Assembly polls, while taking a swipe at the opposition INDIA bloc, which he said was led by "people out on bail".
Addressing his maiden election rally in the poll-bound state, the PM asked the crowds to switch on the lights of their mobile phones, and in a dig at the RJD, said, "When all people have access to such modern gadgets, there is no need for the lantern.
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.
Sneering at the opposition coalition, which is known in Bihar as "Mahagathbandhan", or a grand alliance, the PM said squabbles among allies showed it was a "lathbandhan", a tie-up in which partners were beating each other with sticks.
He said the NDA, with its cohesion, was a picture in contrast, pointing towards Kumar, the JD(U) president, Union Ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, the supremos of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Hindustani Awam Morcha respectively, and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, who heads Rashtriya Lok Morcha, all of whom were present on the stage.
Showering praise on Nitish Kumar, who seeks a fifth consecutive term in office, Modi alleged, "He came to power in 2005, but nearly a decade of his tenure was hampered by a hostile Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, which was constantly blackmailed by the RJD that it would withdraw support if cooperation was extended to the NDA government in Bihar".
The prime minister added, "The central assistance extended to Bihar in the last 11 years is three times what the state had received from the previous government. The state has turned the corner. It is now exporting fish, a far cry from the days when it was dependent on other states for its own needs. Makhana, which is a famous produce of Bihar, has access to markets far and wide".
"Bihar is now an attractive investment destination. I foresee a future in which every district will be teeming with startups of local youths", Modi said.
"All this would not have been possible had there been 'jungle raj' in Bihar. Don't you remember that a former PM had said that of every rupee spent by the government, only 15 paise reached the people. The money used to be devoured by a blood-stained hand (khooni panja)", said Modi, in an obvious reference to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the poll symbol of Congress, the RJD's alliance partner.
Modi asserted that Bihar will keep the 'jungle raj' at bay and vote for good governance.
"'Nayee raftar se chalega Bihar, phir jab aayegi NDA sarkar' (Bihar's growth will speed up once NDA returns to power). RJD and Congress indulged in scams, their leaders are out on bail, and now they are trying to steal the 'Jannayak' title of Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur," he added.
"Also, under the RJD rule, a dozen-and-a-half districts of Bihar were infested with Maoist insurgency. Hundreds of people were murdered. When I came to power in 2014, I pledged to bring Maoism to an end. With utmost humility and satisfaction, I can say that we have broken the spine of Maoism. Soon, the entire country will be free of the menace. This is Modi's guarantee", the PM added.
Modi also said, "In the last assembly polls in Gujarat, where the party has been in power for 30 years, all previous records were broken. Similar was the case in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana. I am confident that in Bihar, too, under Nitish Kumar, the NDA will break all previous records," he said.
In an apparent dig at INDIA bloc chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, who, along with father Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, is named in the land for jobs scam, the PM said, "The people of Bihar cannot repose their trust in people who are out on bail (zamaanat par chhute hue log)".
True to form, the PM began his speech with a few sentences in Maithili and peppered his speech with idioms and proverbs in the local dialect, evoking applause from the crowds.
Prior to addressing the rally, the PM had visited Karpoori Gram, the village named after former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, a backward class stalwart on whom the Bharat Ratna was conferred, posthumously, about a couple of years ago.
In his speech, Modi paid rich tributes to Thakur, saying, "It is because of the legacy he left behind that people like us have been able to rise despite being born in poor families".
Modi also thanked the people for "turning up in such large numbers, even though the upcoming festival of Chhath must be putting a demand on your time".
He also referred to the recent revision in GST rates and remarked, "hope you all are enjoying the festival of savings (bachat-utsav), too".
