Kickstarting the campaign in Purnia in the Seemanchal region of Bihar, BJP president J.P. Nadda and Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad reiterated the jungle raj vs development narrative and also touched upon the dilution of Article 370 and construction of Ram Temple.
Mr. Nadda said that in the 2015 elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a special package of ₹1.25 lakh crore to Bihar. In addition, ₹40,000 crore has been spent more on Bihar’s infrastructure in the last couple of years. Crediting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for construction of roads, providing electricity and maintaining law and order, Mr. Nadda said all these would be reversed if any other party comes to power.
“Who is CPI(ML)? Who killed Ram Bhakts? They are anarchists. And now the anarchists and the RJD which is a destructional party have come together. To add to this is the Congress,” Mr. Nadda said adding ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had opposed the dilution of Article 370 that gave special status to Kashmir. “Pakistan Prime Minister used the same logic presented by Rahul Gandhi in the U.N. Shashi Tharoor criticises India on a Pakistani platform. Don’t start opposing the country while opposing PM Narendra Modi,” Mr. Nadda said.
The rally was thinly attended as the audience had been waiting since noon and had already started leaving by the time Mr. Nadda and Mr. Prasad reached the venue at 4:30 pm they had already started leaving.
Pointing at the scattered crowd, many of whom had their phones out to click pictures of the rally, Mr. Prasad said, “Could you have openly flashed your phone during the Lalu regime. Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi’s government is giving computers and mobile phones in your hands,” he said.
Mr. Prasad obliquely mentioned the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. “Ram Lala ke vakil kaun the? Hum hi toh the,” he said.
