Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing an election rally in Bihar’s Chapra took a dig at the Opposition over the Pulwama attack claiming that Pakistan’s admission into its role in the attack has unmasked those in India who never cared for the "sons of Bihar" who lost their lives in the assault.
“Recently, our neighbour accepted complicity in Pulwama attack. The admission has also taken the masks off our opponents who never actually cared for the lives we lost in the suicide attack which killed many sons of Bihar. They have always been more preoccupied with their political gains," said Modi referring to the questions that were raised by the Opposition about the Balakot air strikes that followed the Pulwama terror strike.
He also sought to appeal to the Bihari sentiment by speaking about chhath' puja, saying that Bihar's "son" will ensure that kitchen fires are kept burning despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chhapra is considered as the political bastion of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. After Chapra, Modi will visist Samastipur to address a public meeting in Housing Board ground, then he will head to Gandhi maidan in Motihari, and will end his campaign trip with a rally in Bagaha.
According to sources in the JD(U), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will accompany Modi in Samastipur and Bagaha meetings.
PM Modi also took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav. He said, NDA defeated "double Yuvraj" in UP polls, and said that the "double-double Yuvraj" will meet same fate in Bihar.
He termed the grand alliance as an alliance of "double-double Yuvraj" (two crown princes) whose sole concern was to protect their "respective thrones" adding that the BJP-JDU combine in Bihar have brought in development acting as a “double-engine government”.
"One of them failed in UP a few years ago and is now lending his support to the 'yuvraj of jungle raj' in Bihar. They are going to fail here again," Modi said recalling the short-lived SP-Congress alliance which was trounced in the assembly polls of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
In a bid to strike a chord with the state's women voters, the prime minister said, "My mothers need not worry about whether they would be able to afford Chhath festivities a few weeks from now. Do remember this son of yours is sitting in Delhi. He will take care of all your needs".
He said the turnout in the first phase of poll proved pundits wrong and suggested that the NDA was set to return to power again.
"This has left our opponents frustrated. They have started pushing and shoving their own supporters," said Modi in a veiled reference to a recent video of Tejashwi Yadav where he grabbed a supporter by the arm and pushed him aside.
Modi also raked up the issue of "ill treatment and insult" to former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh by the family of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad which ultimately led to the founding member quitting the party a day before his death.
The Bihar polls are being held in three phases -- October 28, November 3 and November 7. The results will be out on November 10.
(With PTI inputs)
