Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the people of Bihar have given the Opposition INDIA bloc a “65-volt jhatka ” in the first phase of voting last week and are now committed to continue with the same zeal so that he will be back for the swearing-in of the new NDA Government in the State soon.
Modi was addressing his last election campaign rally in Bihar, where the second phase of voting is scheduled on November 11. A day before the campaign is to end, Modi was joined elsewhere by his Cabinet colleagues — Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in the aggressive campaigning in the State.
PM, who addressed his 14th and final rally at Bettiah, “the place where Gandhi became Mahatma”, centred his attack on the RJD, alleging that if voted to power, the Opposition party, backed by its allies, will put a katta on the people’s heads and order them to hold their “hands up”.
The Bettiah rally was preceded by another election meeting at Sitamarhi, the birthplace of goddess Sita, where the PM spoke of the NDA’s endeavour to renovate Punaura Dham, the shrine built at the spot, and lambasted the Opposition for “protecting infiltrators”, in pursuit of a politics of “vote bank” and appeasement.
The PM seemed confident of an NDA win, claiming that the high turnout in the first phase was in favour of the ruling coalition. “You have given a 65 volt shock to the Opposition which is now having sleepless nights,” said Modi, referring to the 65.09 per cent turnout registered across 121 Assembly segments where voting was held on November 6.
There were also indirect references to Rahul Gandhi, the “naamdaar of Congress”, who was called scion of “the most corrupt family in the country”, and reminded of his late father Rajiv Gandhi, “a Congress Prime Minister”, who had famously admitted that out of every rupee spent by the Government, only 15 paise reached the people.
PM urged the electors to “break the record of the first phase on November 11” and ensure that the NDA not just wins “all the seats but established a lead in every booth”.
“My campaign ends today but canvassing will continue tomorrow. But voters’ job begins on the day of polling. I will come again for the swearing in of an NDA government,” said the Prime Minister.
Asserting that the people of Bihar “do not want a katta sarkaar”, Modi voiced alarm over the RJD’s poll campaign, in which children came on stage declaring that they wished to become “rangdaar” (street bullies), armed with unlicensed pistols and double barrel guns (dunaali)”.
Although the Prime Minister refrained from mentioning leaders of the RJD and the Congress by names, he made ample references to “royal families” running these, “one most corrupt in the country” and the other “most corrupt in Bihar”.
Modi’s speeches during the assembly polls also had references to the abrogation of Article 370 and Operation Sindoor, and the opposition was charged with “capitulation before religious extremists” for not supporting the government on Triple Talaq and Waqf laws. He also touched upon the problem of migration, which has been made a major poll issue by Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor.
The PM promised that in its next innings in power, the NDA will ensure “sons of Bihar get employed on the home soil and make their motherland proud”.
Shah and Singh, both former BJP presidents, were, however, more blunt in their attacks on Rahul Gandhi. Home Minister addressed three rallies in the north-eastern corner of the state. Widely regarded as the BJP’s principal strategist, Shah, who has often called himself “son of a bania, who knows how to keep accounts”, used the analogy of a shop to berate Gandhi and asserted that the Congress leader’s “dukaan” will be shut after the drubbing in Bihar assembly polls.
Singh, who held three election meetings in south-western extreme of Bihar, called into question Gandhi’s pro-Dalit stance, saying had he been so concerned about empowerment of SCs and STs, he would have offered the post of Leader of Opposition to someone from these deprived sections.