Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the spectre of “jungle raj”, describing Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as its “yuvraj” (crown prince), in three back-to-back rallies in Bihar on Wednesday.
Modi’s rallies at Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna coincided with the first phase of voting in the Assembly elections. Seventy-one seats spread across 16 districts voted to decide the fate of 1,066 candidates on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister also tried to tap into the fear of the coronavirus as he sought votes for the National Democratic Alliance.
“There is a coronavirus pandemic on one side and the people of jungle raj come to rule on the other. This will be a two-fold blow for the people of Bihar. You can imagine what they will do with the coronavirus funds if they come to power. What else can the public expect from the ‘yuvraj of jungle raj’ on the basis of the previous track record?” Modi said in Muzaffarpur.
“This is not a time for those who speak about lofty things. This is a time to choose them again who have experience and have extricated Bihar from darkness to here,” he added.
Tejashwi, 31, is drawing huge crowds at his public meetings and has touched a cord among the youth by promising jobs.
The RJD leader has not used photographs of his parents — former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi whose 15-year rule from 1990 to 2005 came to be branded “jungle raj” after Patna High Court used the phrase in a case in the context of governance — during his election campaign in an attempt to start on a clean slate.
But Modi, in his entire speech in Muzaffarpur, kept the focus on the past by talking of “jungle raj and its side effects like closure of industries, fleeing of investors, poverty, migration of workers, anarchy and poor governance.
A Covid patient votes at a booth in the Warsaliganj Assembly constituency in Nawada on Wednesday, the first day of polling in Bihar. The district administration provided him with a PPE kit and arranged an ambulance. The voter is in home isolation and tested positive after the deadline had passed for applying for postal ballots. The voter turnout in the first phase was estimated at 54.26%. Sanjay Choudhary
The Prime Minister spent only a few minutes taking about the work done by the NDA government and praising chief minister Nitish Kumar.
“The people of Bihar will not forget their (those in power) behaviour towards those who had their own work and business. Those who will give rangdaari (protection money, extortion money) will survive; else the copyright of the kidnapping industry is with them. Therefore we should remain alert about them,” he said.
Modi also sought to counter the promise of RJD and its ally Congress to provide 10 lakh jobs by saying: “Leave aside the government jobs, even the private companies will run away from Bihar if they come to power.”
Speaking at Darbhanga earlier, the Prime Minister touched on the issue of corruption and blamed the 15-year-rule of the RJD as an era of gobbling up development funds and taking commission in projects.
“The people of Bihar have once again decided to defeat the powers who brought jungle raj in Bihar. They have decided to again defeat those who looted the state. People who have been trained to divide and rule the society, and indulge in taking commissions can never think of the welfare of Bihar,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also touched the topic of the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya and taunted the Opposition.
