PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to save Bihar from the "bad intentions" of the RJD and Congress, accusing both parties of doing politics in the name of the poor, backwards, Dalits and Adivasis over the years.
“What to speak of giving equal rights to the poor, backwards, Dalits and Adivasis, they cannot give even respect to the people outside their families,” Modi commented in a public rally in Bihar Motihari, while obliquely targeting RJD chief Lalu Prasad after a portrait of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar was placed near his feet by one of his supporters during his birthday celebrations.
Avoiding responding to the allegations being made by RJD and its allies about the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the election rolls in Bihar, Modi said that RJD had put the brakes on the development of Bihar as even benefits were not reaching the poor when RJD and Congress were in power.
He said that UPA released only around Rs 2 lakh crore when it was in power at the centre as it was taking revenge against Bihar’s NDA government headed by Nitish Kumar and the state itself.
PM said, “I stopped this old politics as the central assistance to Bihar increased manifold after the formation of the NDA government at the Centre in 2014.”
PM Modi said that NDA government at the centre provided more funds to Bihar for its development than that of the previous UPA government led by Congress. He also listed mis-governance during the previous RJD-Congress government in the state.
“We (NDA) have provided pucca houses to people in Bihar more than population of Norway, Singapore and New Zealand," he pointed out.
Highlighting the achievements of the NDA government, PM Modi said that tremendous results have been coming out of women empowerment as over 20 lakh women have become ‘lakhpati Didis’ in Bihar alone. He lauded by efforts made by Nitish Kumar for women empowerment through Jeevika Didis and their self-help groups.
PM Modi said that Bihar had to be made a developed state if the eastern India had to be taken forward on the path of growth. “Today, development work is happening in Bihar so fast because there is a government working for Bihar at the centre and in the state,” he remarked.
"Our resolve is that in the coming times, Motihari should be known in the east just like Mumbai is in western India. Just like there are opportunities in Gurugram, Gaya should also have similar opportunities. Like Pune, there should be industrial development in Patna. Like Surat, Santhal Pargana should also develop. Like Jaipur, new records of tourism should be made in Jalpaiguri and Jajpur. Like Bangalore, the people of Birbhum should also progress, he added.
PM Modi thanked Nitish for taking initiatives for the welfare of youths. “Nitish Kumar’s government is giving jobs to youths in support of the Centre,” he said, adding that Mudra Loan scheme was being strengthened to provide loans to make youths self-reliant.
PM Modi’s visit to Motihari, district headquarters of East Champaran, is the 53rd tour to Bihar since 2014 and third in one and a half months. Earlier, PM Modi laid foundation stone and inaugurated development projects worth over Rs.7,200 crore.