PATNA : Slamming the JD(U)-RJD alliance in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the people to utilise the Assembly elections as an opportunity to get rid of the “jungle raj” in the state.
“Upcoming Assembly elections are an opportunity for you to free yourselves from the jungle raj and you should make use of it,” Modi said, while addressing a mammoth Parivartan rally at Gaya.
Attacking the past governments for neglecting development, Modi said, “You have suffered their arrogance, deceit and exploitation for the last 25 years (15 years of the RJD rule and 10 years of Nitish). Do you want such a rule to continue for another five years,” he asked the crowd.
Accusing the successive governments for not taking steps to pull the state out of the BIMARU category, Modi said, “If you want Bihar to be out of the category of BIMARU states, hand over the reins to a BJP Government.”
“We have a team of capable leaders such as Jitan Ram Manjhi, Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha and Sushil Kumar Modi,” he added.
He also mentioned how Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan came out of the BIMARU list under the BJP rule in the last couple of years and were progressing like developed states as Gujarat and Haryana.
Unlike during the first Parivartan rally in Muzaffarpur on July 25, Modi avoided making any personal attack on Nitish, who made an issue out of his controversial DNA remark.
Modi, who had recently described the RJD as a party signifying ‘Rojana Jungle Raj ka Dar’, coined another name for the JD(U)-- ‘Janata ka Daman aur Utpidan (Oppression and suppression of people)’.
“Hitting out at Nitish for his failure in providing electricity, Modi said, “Today, the per capita power consumption in a small state like Sikkim is 1,000 kw. In Bihar, it is a meagre 150 kw. Even Jharkhand, that was born out of Bihar, consumes five times more power.”
On the young population of the state, Modi said, “There are 80 lakh people aged between 17 and 20 years in Bihar. They need technical education and skill development for gainful employment.”
“But there are only 25,000 engineering seats in the state, against the 1.13 lakh in neighbouring Odisha, 1.04 lakh in a smaller state like Punjab and 40,000 in a small state like Uttarakhand,” he said.
He also mentioned that around four lakh Bihari students were studying in engineering colleges in other states, resulting in a loss of about Rs 4,000 crore to the state every year.
The Prime Minister also promised to develop the tourism potential of Gaya, especially the Bodh Gaya due to its special connection with Buddhism.