PATNA: Kicking off his party’s poll campaign in Bihar on Friday, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tried to pin down Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the emotive issues of migrants and the Chinese ingress into Ladakh, since many soldiers hailing from the state had laid down their lives in the Galwan valley violence in June.
“You (migrants) covered hundreds of kilometers on foot hungry and thirsty, but Modi did not arrange transport. He left you to your fate,” Rahul said in back-to-back rallies with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav in Nawada and Bhagalpur districts. “A government for such migrants and labourers must be installed.”
Rahul also accused Modi of insulting the Army by denying that the PLA had infiltrated into eastern Ladakh. “Our 20 soldiers were martyred and they took our 1,200 sq km area.
When China intruded, why did our PM insult Indian Army’s heroes by lying that no one had come inside India?” Rahul questioned. “Merely bowing one’s head before martyred jawans of the Bihar Regiment would not do. When you will get the land occupied by the PLA vacated,” he asked. In his address, an optimistic Tejashwi said: “On November 9, Lalu ji will be released from jail. On November 10, Nitish Kumar’s farewell is fixed.”