Slamming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, ally of the ruling Janata Dal(U), for “ruining” Bihar in the past 25 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called upon the people of the State to throw out the government in the upcoming election and take the State “out of BIMARU” category.
(The acronym BIMARU was coined in the early 1980s to describe the backwardness of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh relative to the best-performing States.)
Mr. Modi took a dig at Mr. Prasad who was incarcerated in the multi-crore fodder scam case.
Apparently overwhelmed by the mammoth crowd at the Gandhi Maidan here, he said the turnout showed Bihar was on the path of change. Criticising the previous RJD regime’s “jungle raj”, he asked the people if they would like “jungle raj Part 2 in the State”.
“Jungle raj Part 2 now also has jail experience and people who come out of jail would have learnt quite a few new things … So, if it comes, all will be lost.” Mr. Modi referred to the recent murder of a BJP leader in Patna, and said “if this can happen in a State capital under the nose of the government, it heralds the beginning of jungle raj Part 2.”
Mr. Modi, who termed the RJD “Rojana Jungle raj ka Dar” at the Muzaffarpur rally, called the JD(U) Janata ka daman aur utpidan (suppression and oppression of the people)”.
Bihar needed a change in governance, he said. “Bihar has always been in the forefront of any historic change and now I’ve come to take your blessings to rid the State of misgovernance and misrule that has marked the past 25 years,” he said, referring to 15 years of RJD rule and 10 of the Janata Dal(U).
Those who were earlier ruling India had now joined together to “ruin Bihar”, he said apparently referring to the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance.
Citing BJP-ruled States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said Bihar too needed to come out of the BIMARU category.
“Within five years, we’ll take Bihar out of the BIMARU bracket and this is why a BJP government … an NDA government … is needed,” he declared.
