At Bhagalpur rally, PM Modi seeks to ward off quota fears
PM Narendra Modi was addressing a rally at the local aerodrome ground in Bhagalpur, where chief minister Nitish Kumar and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan were also present.
Continuing his national security pitch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress and its allies of “speaking the language that supports terrorism”.
Modi was addressing a rally at the local aerodrome ground in Bhagalpur, where chief minister Nitish Kumar and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan were also present.
Polling in Bhagalpur is scheduled to be held on April 18.
Modi said the opposition wanted to strip the armed forces of their special powers, while the NDA government wanted to give full liberty to jawans to deal with terrorists and Naxals.
He said the country had emerged stronger after retaliatory action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack.
Referring to the opposition alliance as “mahamilawati (adulterated), the PM said they should clarify whether they were with terrorists or with the armed forces.
Modi also highlighted the social security schemes like Ayushman Bharat and others launched by his government.
Accusing the opposition alliance of scaremongering, he said their leaders were fighting for existence and trying their best to create a false fear among people there would be no election in country in future and reservation policy would be abolished if he was voted back to power. He said he instead favoured strengthening the reservation policy and cited his government’s decision to provide for 10% quota for the poor among the upper castes.
Talking of farmers, Modi said the Congress had no interest in doing good for farmers. Listing his government’s measures, he said he had made the provision of minimum support price for farm produce one-and-a-half times the input cost.
The PM also said that all farmers would be covered under the Kisan scheme for financial assistance instead of just those having land holdings up to five acres if his government was voted back to power.
He also mentioned development works undertaken in the state by Nitish Kumar-led state government.
Touching local issues, Modi said supply of cooking gas to households through pipeline, besides availability of CNG, would be ensured here in near future. He said he was aware about the problems of the local silk industry and his government had been doing needful for the purpose. The mega handloom cluster was established here as a step towards solution of the problem, he said.
Modi’s rally here was to seek support for JD (U) nominees contesting as NDA candidates from Munger, Banka and Bhagalpur parliamentary seats.
In his speech, Nitish Kumar also mentioned about various development works undertaken in the state.
Union minister Ashwini Kumar Chowbey and Bihar’s deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi were also present at the rally.