Addressing his first public meeting of the 2024 Jharkhand Assembly election on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal government over corruption and non-performance, while listing achievements and welfare schemes of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for the welfare of the people.
Mr. Modi accused the Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led INDIA bloc of being engaged in the politics of appeasement and supporting nepotism. He claimed the people of Jharkhand are eager to uproot the ruling coalition government and “make the lotus bloom”.
“They are snatching your bread; they are snatching your daughter and they are taking over your land as well. If this evil policy of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance continues, then the population of tribals in Jharkhand will shrink. This is a big threat to both the tribal society and the security of the country. This infiltrator alliance has to be uprooted with your votes,” Mr. Modi said while addressing the rally at the Srikrishna Gaushala ground in Garhwa block’s Chenta village.
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Besides calling the INDIA bloc “Ghuspaithiya Bandhan” (infiltrators’ alliance) for supporting alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators, he also labelled it “Mafia Ka Ghulam” (mafia’s slave), and said the ruling alliance has taken the “policy of appeasement” to its extremes.
“These three parties are eager to break the social fabric. To get the votes of Bangladeshi infiltrators, they are settling these infiltrators all over Jharkhand,” Mr. Modi claimed.
Garhwa falls under the Palamu Division which is spread over three districts: Latehar, Palamu and Garhwa. The Palamu Division has nine Assembly constituencies and of the nine, the BJP won five in the 2019 Assembly election. The JMM had won two and the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) one each.
Mr. Modi also attacked the Soren government over the issue of corruption. Comparing corruption to termites, he said it affects the poor, Dalits, backward classes and tribal people the most. He further pointed out that from the Chief Minister and Ministers to MLAs and MPs, nearly everyone faces serious corruption allegations.
Saying that nepotism is Jharkhand’s big enemy, Mr. Modi said the people in power left no stone unturned in insulting a “tribal son”, in a reference to former Chief Minister Champai Soren.
Mr. Modi alleged that the JMM-led government has been spreading rumours and urged people not to get “fooled by its words”. He said rumours were spread about the PM Kisan Nidhi scheme, but he had sent ₹600 crore to the accounts of farmers of Garhwa alone.
He further claimed that after the formation of the BJP government in the State, about 3 lakh government posts will be filled in a transparent manner. He stressed that the JMM, Congress and RJD have betrayed the youth of Jharkhand.
After Garhwa, Mr. Modi addressed another rally at Chaibasa in the Kolhan region where the BJP failed to win a single seat out of 14 in the previous Assembly election.
Expressing confidence of winning the upcoming election, Mr. Modi said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will storm to power with more seats than any government in history and Kolhan will play an important role in such a win.
“History witnessed how Kolhan challenged the tyrannical British Army, and today, Kolhan again is prepared to overthrow the tyrannical government of the JMM, Congress and RJD. Everyone says Kolhan will create a new history. What has not happened for years is going to happen this year. That is the message of this huge rally in Chaibasa also,” Mr. Modi said.
Mr. Modi held the then Congress government responsible for the Gua firing incident of 1980. “In the 80s, when the Congress government was in power in both Bihar and Delhi, Jharkhand was not a separate State and was a part of Bihar. What happened then? Ask your parents, grandparents, they will definitely remember the Gua firing incident. The kind of barbarism that came from the British had come from the Congress government here (West Singhbhum),” Mr. Modi said.
He claimed that when Babasaheb Ambedkar advocated for tribal reservation, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru opposed such a move. He added that even the Gandhi family was against reservation for tribals.
Before the arrival of Mr. Modi in Jharkhand, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a post on X questioned the Prime Minister over unfulfilled promises, such as the Korba-Lohardaga and Chatra-Gaya railway lines, engineering colleges and a medical college in Koderma.
Published - November 04, 2024 01:28 pm IST
