Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress of abandoning Mahatma Gandhi and his campaign for hygiene while highlighting his own efforts to build toilets.
On a day he addressed back-to-back rallies at Motihari and Maharajganj in Bihar, he also slammed the INDIA bloc as “extremely communal and casteist”.
Modi said he had come from the birthplace of Gandhi (Gujarat) to his workplace (Motihari) to seek the people’s blessings (for the polls).
“Gandhi had experimented with Satyagraha and Swachhagraha (appeal for hygiene) here in Champaran. The Congress should have taken inspiration from it to launch a movement for hygiene in the country after Independence. It had an opportunity to pay tribute to Bapu,” he told the rally in Motihari.
“But it abandoned Bapu, his thoughts, behaviour and ideals, on the very day it came to power. It focused only on advancing the interests of one family. The Congress and its allies wasted 60 years of the country and destroyed three to four generations of the country.”
Modi asserted that he, son of a poor mother, had taken toilets to every house because he understood the plight of the women who often had to wait for hours till sunset to answer nature’s call.
“The ordeal severely affected the health of our mothers and sisters, but they (the Congress) failed to understand the need for toilets,” he said.
Mahatma Gandhi had first made use of Satyagraha in India at Motihari in 1917 to oppose the system of forced indigo cultivation, imposed by the British. While touring the area, he was also appalled at the squalor and the absence of toilets, and encouraged people to practise better hygiene.
Modi highlighted his efforts to provide electricity, gas connections and tap water to every household. He accused the Congress and the RJD of keeping the people yearning for these amenities while building palaces for themselves.
“The poor kept getting poorer. They were in trouble, but they (the Congress and the RJD) were not bothered. The poor started getting attention only when this son of a poor mother started serving them,” Modi claimed.
Responding to RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s purported statement recommending “bed rest” for the Prime Minister, Modi said he would not wish such a condition on anyone in the country.
“What else can we expect from the inheritor of Jungle Raj? Congress leaders say my grave will be dug. Their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh say my last days are here, so I have made the arrangements in Varanasi. The Congress’s prince wants to see tears in my eyes,” Modi said.
He credited chief minister Nitish Kumar and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who died recently, with rescuing Bihar from the days of lawlessness when, he said, bombs and pistols were everywhere and kidnapping was an industry.
At Maharajganj, Modi accused INDIA partners of turning Bihar from a land of the intellect into a land of extortion, and causing an exodus of businesses and industries from the state.
“The DMK people abused the people of Bihar, Congress leaders of Telangana also did so. Congress leaders in Punjab said the people of Bihar should not be allowed to buy houses in Punjab. At that time this ‘royal family’ (Nehru-Gandhis) kept mum. The honour and prestige of the people of Bihar do not matter to the INDI alliance,” Modi said.
He accused the INDIA bloc of “three bad things”, saying: “They are extremely communal and casteist, and indulge in dynastic politics.”
Clash kills man
A post-poll clash between suspected BJP and RJD supporters on Tuesday morning killed a man and left three injured in Saran, the constituency where RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya is pitted against BJP incumbent Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Shots were fired during the clash in the Bada Telma area, provoked by charges and counter-charges of irregularities during polling on Monday, PTI reported. The dead man was identified as Chandan Yadav, 25.
