Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched his party’s campaign for the Bihar Assembly elections on Wednesday with a few jabs on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling the Bihar voters that he would do anything for votes if asked for including dancing on the stage, eliciting sharp reactions from the BJP.
Addressing a poll rally at Muzaffarpur, the Congress leader whose party is allied with Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal under the “Mahagathbandhan,” also once again accused the ruling BJP of ‘stealing’ elections, repeating claims that the party had colluded with the Election Commission to commit voter fraud and manipulate federal and state results.
Mr Gandhi was speaking alongside several opposition leaders, including Mahagathbandhan’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav. Attacking the prime minister, the Congress leader told the gathering: “If you tell Modi ji to do drama for votes, he would do. If you tell him that you would vote for him and ask him to come to the stage and dance, he would dance.”
“He just wants your vote. If you tell Narendra Modi to dance. He will dance… they are engaged in stealing your votes. Because they want to end this election disease. I am telling you, they stole elections in Maharashtra, they stole elections in Haryana, and they will try their best in Bihar…”
The response was immediate; the BJP ripped into Gandhi, calling his words that of a “local goon” and saying he had “insulted every person who had voted for the PM.” In a post on X, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said, “Rahul Gandhi speaks like a ‘local goon’. Rahul Gandhi has openly insulted every poor (person) of India and Bihar who has voted for PM Narendra Modi ji! Rahul Gandhi has mocked voters, and Indian democracy!”
The party then countered by accusing Gandhi and the Congress of “openly standing with intruders.” The Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking at a rally in Darbhanga district, referred to Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, a foot march through parts of the eastern state in August/September, to drum up public support for the opposition’s claims of Election Commission-BJP collusion before polls.
Gandhi, meanwhile, also hit out over reports of a specially constructed pond, on the banks of the polluted Yamuna River in Delhi but filled with filtered water, so the Prime Minister could offer Chhath puja, which involves standing in the water of a river, sea, or pond, and taking a ritual dip. “There is no Yamuna there… there is a pond there. He went to bathe in his ‘swimming pool’. He has nothing to do with the Yamuna… with Chhath Puja,” Gandhi said at the Muzaffarpur rally.
Rahul Gandhi also lashed out at the NDA government in the state saying that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was just a face but the government’s “remote control” was in the hands of the BJP. “I agree with Tejashwi Yadav, who spoke just before me, that the government in Bihar is being run through remote control. They are simply using the face of Nitish Kumar,” Gandhi said.
“Three or four people control it. BJP controls it. They have the remote controller in their hands, and they have nothing to do with social justice. I said in front of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha that you should get the caste census done. He did not say a single word… BJP is against social justice. They do not want it,” he further said.
Mr Yadav also addressed the rally but his speech was far less controversial, focusing more on his poll promises than firing personal attacks against the Prime Minister or other ruling alliance leaders. Among the assurances he offered was pricing cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500 and offering 200 free units of electricity per household.
He did, however, have one jibe to throw, and that was aimed at Janata Dal United boss and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose government, he said, was being run by the BJP via ‘remote control’. On Tuesday the opposition alliance and the ruling BJP-JDU pair clashed over the legacy of Bihar socialist icon and former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, specifically the ‘Jan Nayak’ tag.
The row broke after the Congress declared Gandhi the ‘Jan Nayak’. Hindustan Awam Morcha chief Jitan Manjhi, a member of the BJP-led ruling alliance, was dismissive. “The title is given by the people… it can’t be self-assumed,” he had said. Manjhi was more critical of claims by the RJD to similarly label Tejashwi Yadav, while a Samajwadi Party leader, perhaps feeling left out, then ‘bestowed’ the label on Akhilesh Yadav.
Meanwhile, responding to the jeers from the Mahagathbandhan over “un-named” Chief Ministerial candidate of the NDA, Mr Amit Shah categorically said Mr Nitish Kumar would be retained as the chief minister if the NDA stayed in power. Stating that Mr Lalu Prasad was “dreaming” to make his son the chief minister of Bihar and Ms Sonia Gandhi her son the prime minister of India, and said unfortunately for them neither of the posts were vacant.
“Bihar mein na CM ka pad khali hain a Delhi mein PM ka pad khali hai… yahan Nitish Kumar hain, aur Lalu ji, Sonia ji, wahan PM Modi hain (neither the Chief Minister post in Bihar nor the Prime Minister’s seat in Delhi is vacant. Nitish Kumar is here and Lalu ji, Sonia ji, PM Modi there),” Shah said. “Aapka number nahin lagega (Lalu, Sonia You won’t get a chance),” he added.
The Grand Alliance had smarted for long under BJP jibes over its tardy progress in terms of campaigning, seat sharing talks and the absence of Congress’s Rahul Gandhi from Ground Zero. But the opposition bloc had also exacted sweet revenge when it announced its Chief Ministerial candidate earlier this week, jeering at the NDA, which was yet to do so.
The Mahagathbandhan stole a march over the NDA again yesterday, bringing out its manifesto. The issue of the NDA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, though, had remained more of a matter of speculation, with many expecting the ruling alliance to opt for a fresh face. Mr Kumar had taken the top job in Bihar first in 2005. He has occupied the post since, barring a brief period when he stepped down in favour of Jitin Ram Manjhi.
The Congress Bihar incharge Krishna Allavaru praised Mahagatbandhan’s manifesto for the Bihar elections terming it to be centred around issues that matter to the people of the State. He highlighted that the Mahagatbandhan’s manifesto encapsulates the alliance’s agenda and vision.
“I’ve been saying from the beginning that the Mahagatbandhan wants to fight this election by focusing on the issues that matter to the people of Bihar. Our approach is centred around solutions to those issues and those solutions form our manifesto, our agenda, and our vision for the people. Tejashwi ji also keeps emphasising that we not only have a plan to make Bihar better, but we also have a capable team to implement it,” Mr Allavaru told reporters. He also took a dig at the National Democratic Alliance, stating that neither they nor their leader has a plan.