Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Congress, and praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while addressing a mammoth gathering in Bhagalpur.

Modi called Nitish Kumar his ‘Laadla (favourite) Chief Minister,’ at the same time he tried to invoke the memory of crime and corruption in Bihar during the RJD rule.

Advertisement

He said, “The Congress-RJD rule brought bad reputation to Bihar. But we are committed to developing the state. We will achieve the lost glory of Patliputra. Viksit Bharat will rise from the East and Bihar is the most important pillar of Eastern India and a symbol of India’s cultural heritage.”

He also criticised RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav for his remarks about the Mahakumbh.

“People who are annoyed with the Ram temple are not leaving any opportunity to curse the Maha Kumbh. I know that Bihar will never forgive those who abuse the Maha Kumbh,” he said.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister released more than Rs 22,700 crore of Kisan Samman Nidhi funds to the account of 9.8 crore farmers across the country. He also launched a couple of other projects aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of farmers.

“Had there been no NDA governments, farmers across the country, including Bihar, would not have received the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. In the last six years, every single penny of this has reached directly into the accounts of the farmers,” he said.

He emphasised that the four pillars of Viksit Bharat – the poor, farmers, youth and women — will remain priority of the NDA governments in the centre as well as in Bihar, as the NDA government has worked for their development during the last decade.

He recounted various schemes launched for farmers including crop insurance and offering fertiliser and seeds on subsidised rates. Even during the Corona period the government made sure that farmers did not face any shortage of seeds and fertiliser.

He took a dig at Lalu Prasad Yadav and said that those who embezzled government funds meant for livestock feed can’t understand this. If it was not the NDA government, even today farmers would have suffered for fertilisers and seeds.

Modi said, “Those who could eat animal fodder could never change the condition of the farmer. The NDA government has changed their situation. We did not let the farmers face shortage of fertilisers even during the Corona crisis.”

Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also recounted how the agriculture roadmap of Bihar government increased the income of agricultural households in Bihar that has surpassed the national average.

He thanked the prime minister for focusing on Bihar’s development and allocating budget for projects in various sectors including agriculture, aviation and tourism.

He reiterated his stand that he will continue to develop Bihar under Modi’s leadership.