Lakhisarai: Union home minister Amit Shah used the first of three election rallies in Bihar on Thursday to mount a blistering attack on the Grand Alliance and its manifesto, accusing the RJD and Congress of dishonesty and warning that voters must choose the NDA to prevent a return to what he described as “jungle raj”.
Shah told a packed crowd in Lakhisarai that surveys pointed to a heavy defeat for the RJD and Congress, and described the opposition’s manifesto as “false” and lacking a coherent vision. “Their manifesto is filled with lies — they want to come to power by deception,” he said, alleging that even the opposition’s workers found the promises hard to accept.
The home minister reserved particular ire for Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of insulting Chhath Puja in a recent remark in Muzaffarpur. “You and your party can deride Chhath Puja — will the mothers and sisters of Bihar tolerate that?” Shah asked the crowd, framing the issue as an affront to local religious sentiment.
Shah framed the election as a choice between development under the NDA and a return to the lawlessness and corruption of past administrations. “Vote not merely to elect an MLA but to stop jungle raj,” he urged, asking supporters to press the lotus and arrow symbols — the BJP and JDU emblems — on polling day, November 6.
He also set out recent and promised welfare measures, including Rs 10,000 transfers to JEEViKA didis, plans to provide loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, a Patna metro project, a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 1,000, an increase in old-age pensions from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100, and higher honoraria for Anganwadi workers. Shah said such programmes demonstrated the NDA’s commitment to women, farmers and the poor.
In a broader denunciation of the opposition, Shah accused the RJD and Congress of a catalogue of past scandals — naming the fodder scam, alleged land-for-jobs schemes, and other corruption cases — and criticised the parties for opposing the Ram temple. He pledged to build a “grand Sita temple” and said he envisaged a direct rail link from Sitamarhi to Ayodhya.
On the issue of migrants and alleged “infiltrators”, Shah attacked the Grand Alliance’s recent “Save Infiltrators” campaign, warning that an NDA government would “quietly” remove illegal entrants — a remark likely to stoke debate ahead of polling.
