Bihar turned into a ‘jungle raj’ during the Rashtriya Janata Dal regime, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed on Sunday, warning that riots and atrocities would take place if the citizens of the State chose the RJD and its ally, the Congress.
“I hope people have not forgotten the regime of [RJD supremo] Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. They both had made Bihar a jungle raj. When Nitish Kumar became Chief Minister and Narendra Modi ji became the Prime Minister, the atrocities on the poor stopped,” Mr. Shah said on Sunday, addressing a public meeting at Rajendra Stadium in Katihar while campaigning for Janata Dal (United) candidate Dulalchand Goswami.
‘Riots vs development’
He alleged that the Opposition INDIA bloc wanted to take Bihar back to the ‘lalten era’, referring to the hurricane lamp, which is the RJD’s election symbol.
“If you go with the lalten of the RJD and the panja (hand symbol) of the Congress then you will receive riots, atrocities, poverty and starvation. And if you go with the NDA, the lotus of the BJP and the arrow of the JD(U), then you will receive development through the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,” he said.
‘Congress is anti-backward’
Mr. Shah accused the RJD and the Congress of not doing anything for the welfare of other backward classes (OBCs) and extremely backward class (EBCs). He alleged that the Congress party had delayed the report of the Kakasaheb Kalelkar Commission, which was set up to investigate the condition of socially and educationally backward classes. The Home Minister also accused the Congress of keeping the Mandal Commission’s report in cold storage, terming the Congress as anti-backward.
“Lalu Prasad ji is sitting in the lap of the Congress, which is anti-backward. For the first time, the BJP made an OBC leader, Narendra Modi ji, the Prime Minister. The BJP made the Prime Minister a poor person selling tea. Modi ji’s Cabinet includes 35% Ministers from backward and extremely backward communities. He gave constitutional rights to the backward class and also formed the Backward Commission. He added 16 new castes in the OBC list and gave 27% reservation in the All India Quota scheme for MBBS, MD, and engineering admissions,” Mr. Shah said, adding that Mr. Modi had destroyed parivarvaad (dynastic) casteism and the politics of appeasement in the country.
“For so many years, the Congress and its partner Lalu Prasad ji were talking about doing away with poverty but they never did it. However, for the past ten years, Modi ji has been giving 5 kg of food grains to 80 crore poor people. He ensured the construction of more than 12 crore toilets, housing for more than four crore people, Ujjwala gas connection for more than 10 crore people, and more than 14 crore were given tap water connections. He has brought a big change in the lives of poor people over the last 10 years,” Mr. Shah said.
