PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a blistering attack on RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad for his remarks on Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh and said that people of Bihar would not forgive the latter for making a mockery of such a mega spiritual congregation.
Without taking the name of Lalu, PM Modi said that they are envious of spiritual congregations to such an extent that they don’t spare even Maha Kumbh.
“Those who are envious of Ram Temple don’t miss the opportunity to abuse such congregation despite the fact that spiritual congregation is an embodiment of unity,” he said.
PM Modi was addressing a public meeting at Bhagalpur in Bihar after disbursing over Rs 22,700 crore in the bank accounts of about 9.8 crore farmers across the country under PM Kisan Samman Yojna. Over 75 lakh farmers from Bihar have also benefitted from the scheme.
In a veiled attack on RJD, PM Modi called Lalu ‘chara chor’ and said that people who let loose a reign of terror (jungle raj) in Bihar earlier were trying to spread hatred in the society. Modi also described Maha Kubh a symbol of harmony.
Earlier RJD supremo had created a controversy by calling Maha Kumbh ‘faaltu’ (meaningless). In response to a media query, Lalu had said, “Kumbh ka koi matlab hai. Faaltu hai Kumbh?" (Is there any meaning of Kumbh? It is just meaningless).
Lalu’s reactions came following a stampede at Delhi railway station in which more than 18 people were killed and several others were wounded. Nine of the victims belonged to Bihar. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar later announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those killed in the stampede.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi announced that a central university would be set up in Bhagalpur to revive old glory of the place and its cultural heritage.
“Our government at the centre is working on a detailed project to develop Vikramsheela University,” he said and asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to expedite the process in that direction.
Calling Nitish ‘Ladla CM’, PM Modi said that Bihar was developing under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Centre would continue to assist the latter in making Bihar a developed state. On the other hand, Nitish expressed his gratitude to Modi for taking care of Bihar in every aspect.