BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi matched the sound of serial explosions at the BJP’s Hunkar Rally in Patna with an equally thunderous attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his ‘opportunism and hypocrisy’. Modi also targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi whom he described as Shahzada once again.
With his eye on the backward votes in Bihar, particularly the Yadavs, Modi went soft on jailed RJD chief lalu Prasad and promised the Yaduvanshis that ‘it would be my responsibility to take care of you’. Modi called Nitish Kumar an “opportunist” and tried to strike a chord with Yadavs by pointing out that their revered lord Krishna settled in Dwarka (in Gujarat).
“I telephoned lalu when he met with an accident a couple of months ago. I told him it was quite natural for me to feel for the RJD leader. We (Gujaratis) have a relationship with Yaduvanshis,” Modi said.
More than two lakh people attended the rally, which was also seen as a show of strength by the Bihar BJP and a perfect occasion to launch Modi in Bihar. Aware of the OBC dominance in State politics, Modi and many other senior leaders reiterated that the BJP’s PM candidate was from a modest backward family and used to sell tea in trains for his livelihood. Modi also presented himself as someone who has lived through the trauma of poverty and knows how to deal with it. Modi also sought to take steam out of Nitish Kumar’s demand for a special package for Bihar and promised to “pay with interest after 200 days” for the affection that people showed him in the State.
Pointing out that top five States in implementing the 20-point promgramme were ruled by the BJP, Modi claimed that Bihar figures at number 20 in the list. “Development is the only solution for all problems,” he said and lauded the efforts of BJP Ministers in the NDA Government in Bihar.
In an hour-long speech, Modi made several efforts to invoke the pride of Bihar and claimed the State has produced several stalwarts when the country or the society needed them. “This land has produced lord Buddha when the country needed him and Jai Prakash Narayan when there was a need to launch a fight against corruption,” he said.
Modi’s jibe at Bihar CM - though he did not name Nitish even once - evoked a thunderous applause from the crowd. “People from Bihar are not opportunists, except for a few. The CM of this State is a friend. But if he could leave the JP why could he not ditch the BJPIJ He backstabbed Ram Manohar lohia’s ideology of anti-Congressism. JP and lohia will never forgive him,” Modi said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister pointed out that his party sacrificed the Chief Minister’s post despite having double the number of MlAs over Kumar’s former Samata Party in 1999 and accepted his leadership. “BJP sacrificed the chance of Sushil Kumar Modi becoming the CM in favour of my friend (Kumar) for the sake of clearing the jungle raj in Bihar,” Modi said.
Modi referred to his 2007 meeting with Nitish at a marriage reception in Gujarat where the Bihar Chief Minister was served delicacies of Gujarat. “We met at a function called by the PM. We were together at the dinner table with the PM. He was looking here and there. I told him not to worry as no cameraperson was there to capture the moment,” Modi quipped. “There is limit to even hypocrisy ,” he said.
Nitish has often expressed reservation at being seen in the company of Gujarat Chief Minister and even cancelled a dinner for BJP leaders in Patna after they refused to attend the event without Modi.
The Gujarat Chief Minister sought to boost the morale of party workers by saying he did not come to campaign in Bihar because that would have irked Nitish. “I accepted the humiliation because I never wanted jungle raj to return to Bihar. For us, country is above the party,” Modi said.
He also claimed that Nitish was misguided by some “chamchas; who convinced him that by joining hands with the Congress he could hope to the Prime Minister. He started day dreaming,”Modi said.
The Gujarat CM sought to address his image problem in saying Hindu and Muslims should unit to defeat poverty and pointed out that Kutch and Bharuch, two district of Gujarat with maximum Muslim population, were the most progressed regions of his State.
“Bihar has 7,500-odd quota for Haj pilgrims but it received around 6,000 applications. Compared to it we received more than 40,000 application for about 4,500 quota of Gujarat. More Muslims from Gujarat are willing to go to Haj because they have money. Muslims in Bihar have not progressed,” Modi said.
The BJP’s PM candidate claimed that Bihar politics was influenced by all the four ingredients that defeats the purpose of democracy - dynastic politics, poison of castesim, passion of communalism and opportunism. “Some parties are busy fanning communal, regional and caste sentiments. Voters should throw them out in the next election,” Modi said
Modi taunted that his friends in the Congress were having sleepless nights after he described Rahul Gandhi as a Shahzada. “They want be to stop calling him a Shahzada. I promise that I would not call him with that name, but Congress leader should first disapprove the dynastic politics. If they feel bad after hearing Shahzada, country feels bad about the dynastic politics of the Congress,” Modi quipped.
He reminded the crowd that Mahatma Gandhi launched a campaign from Champaran to free the country from the British and appealed that those present in the Gandhi Maidan on Sunday should strive to make a ‘Congress-free” India. Modi claimed the country wanted a change and Sunday rally would lay the foundation for that.