Amlendu Bhushan Khan / NEW DELHI: Setting the tone for Bihar assembly polls, Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the state moved from “jungle raj to janta raj” during the NDA rule and expressed confidence that the alliance will get a two-third majority in the state assembly polls under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.
Addressing the party workers and people of Bihar through a virtual rally, he attacked the opposition RJD saying the growth rate of the state was just 3.9 per cent when the party was in power, but it rose to 11.3 per cent under the NDA.
The state moved from ‘lalten raj’ to ‘LED raj’, he said referring to the RJD’s poll symbol of lamp.
Home Minister Amit Shah recalled the role played by Jayaprakash Narayan movement in opposing the emergency rule imposed by the then Indira Gandhi government in 1975 while addressing the people of the eastern state in a virtual rally held amid the coronavirus pandemic. Shah added that Narendra Modi government’s pro-poor policies in the last 6 years have benefitted the eastern states the most.
“When Congress leader Indira Gandhi tried to subvert democracy by imposing Emergency, then the people from Bihar stood up to restore democracy through the JP movement,” Shah said.
Shah was referring to the people’s movement– also referred to as total revolution– led by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, which opposed misrule in the state of Bihar and at the Centre and is widely credited with mobilising opposition to the emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.
Shah also responded to RJD’s criticism that BJP was preparing for elections when the country was fighting coronavirus and said the virtual rally organised by the party was part of its culture of people outreach and is unrelated to polls. Assembly elections are due in Bihar in October this year and the NDA has declared chief minister Nitish Kumar the leader of the alliance for the polls.
“This rally is not linked with the assembly elections. BJP believes in democracy. We can’t forget our culture of people outreach.” Shah said.
Earlier today, several RJD leaders including Rabri Devi, her sons, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav clanged utensils in a move to protest Shah’s virtual rally and to highlight the plight of migrant workers. The RJD says it is observing Garib Adhikaar Diwas to bring to light the sufferings of the poor class.
Shah said he was happy to see people beat utensils since it was in line with an appeal made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during one day long Janta Curfew in March to show respect to corona warriors at the forefront of the fight against the disease.
Amit Shah also touched upon the issue of development in Bihar and said eastern India’s growth had declined since independence due to the neglect shown by past governments before the NDA took over the reins.
Narendra Modi ji’s government has worked to improve the lives of crores of poor people in the last six years and this has benefited our people from eastern India the most,” Shah said.
The BJP aims to connect over a crore people through virtual rallies in both West Bengal and Bihar.
Shah will next address the people of Odisha and West Bengal through virtual rallies on June 8 and June 9 respectively. BJP President JP Nadda and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will also hold virtual rallies tomorrow in Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively.
