PM hits out at Lalu over ‘ Hindus eat beef’ remark
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a carpetbombing campaign against the “grand secular alliance” in Bihar on Thursday, three days before the state goes to polls. Addressing rallies in Munger, Begusarai, Samastipur and Nawada on Thursday, the PM focused mainly on two subjects — RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s beef- eating remark and the “jungle raj” issue.
Launching a verbal broadside against Mr Lalu Yadav for his remarks about Hindus eating beef, he said, “Mr Lalu Yadav, elections come and go, but you must not forget what the Yaduvanshis did for you. They are the ones who gave you power.”
Urging the masses, and particularly the Yadav community, not to vote for the grand secular alliance if they want to save themselves from further insults, he said, “It was Yaduv-
Continued from Page 1 - anshis in Gujarat who brought about the white revolution by their tradition of cow- keeping, but see what Lalu Yadav did, he insulted the entire community.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had been silent on Dadri lynching incident, mocked Mr Lalu Yadav’s attempt to attribute his statements to “the work of shaitan ( the devil)”. “I fail to understand — from where did this devil come from, and of all places how on Earth did he find Lalu Yadav’s address? He recognised this shaitan easily as if he was one of his own. We had thought we were fighting with humans here, but now I know that we have to drive out shaitans,” Mr Modi said at the rally in Munger.
Terming Lalu Yadav as “the destroyer of development”, the PM said he was on a rescue mission and that he wanted Bihar’s people to decide whether they wanted “the return of jungle raj” or “the path of development”. Giving an account of the ` 1.65 lakh crore development package, he said leaders like Mr Lalu Yadav and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are looking for ways to stop the package for political benefit.
“We are fighting this election to rescue Bihar, but you have to help us win this election. Remember what the scenario was in Bihar before 2005 — there was jungle raj everywhere. I have come here to alert you, the rest is up to you, whether you want industries and employment or a kidnapping industry,” the PM said.
Asking people not to trust the grand secular alliance, he said, “This is not a mahagathbandhan ( grand alliance) but a swarthbandhan ( alliance of selfishness).” He attacked Mr Nitish Kumar for forming an alliance with two parties out of sheer arrogance. “You have to be alert about three persons — Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav and the Congress party — as this is not just an alliance but a house of Big Boss ( a reality TV show) where everyone has to do what the boss says,” Mr Modi said, adding, that despite ruling Bihar for more than 60 years they had been unable to develop the state.
Mr Lalu Yadav reacted in a tweet on Thursday, saying, “I defy Narendra Modi to show my statement; by using Satan word he is trying to defame people of Bihar I demand an immediate apology from him ( sic).”
Immediately after Mr Lalu Yadav’s statement on Twitter, Mr Nitish Kumar also tweeted accusing Mr Modi of trying to communalise the political scenario in Bihar which is to go to polls in three days. “The real Modi on display — brazen attempt to add communal texture to Bihar polls, but deafening silence on deplorable incidence of Dadri,” Mr Nitish Kumar tweeted. “All to see why Vajpayeeji was forced to remind him to follow raj dharma but wonder who will do the Vajpayee today,” he added.