Comparing him to Hitler, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hit back at Narendra Modi, saying he lacked the qualities to become a Prime Minister and his desperate dream to unfurl national flag at Red Fort would remain unfulfilled.
Two days after the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate launched a no-holds barred attack on Kumar in a Patna rally, he rejected accusations of having "betrayed and backstabbed" socialist stalwarts like Jaiprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia and accused Modi of concocting stories.
He also refused Modi's claim that he was cosying up to Congress and in fact attacked the BJP for weakening the fight against UPA.
In his 90-minute speech at the JD(U) convention that was laced with sarcasm and derision but made in a calm and measured tone, the Bihar strongman tore into Modi questioning his knowledge of history and "lack of civilised language" for a man who wants to be the Prime Minister.
"When had I deserted JP's ideology? Just because JP comes in BJP, he (Modi) made the allegation by linking the two together as it rhymes.... Lohia brought parties together to fight Congress. BJP is walking its own path alone. Where is the comparison," he said to repeated cheers of party workers.
Dismissing Modi's barb that he was dreaming to become prime minister, Kunar asked when did he dream to become PM but added that such an aspiration was not a bad thing.
"Gujaratis are very fond of ice-creams but this sweetness is not visible in his (Modi) speech. He kept drinking water, wiping sweat and cursing me....
"Why was he sweating so much? The man dreaming to be on the country's highest post should be sober, why this unnecessary excitement and hurry?", Kumar said making fun of Modi's repeated sipping of water and wiping his sweat during the Patna speech
He alleged that Modi believed in repeating a lie hundred times to make it sound true. "He (Modi) is behaving like Hitler by propagating fascism," Kumar said, adding the people of the country will never make him the PM.
"Along with trying to create an environment in which an artificial wave is being sought to be created, this man is now resorting to false stories and incorrect facts to target his rivals," he said.
"It is not just dictatorship. It is fascism and those who believe in fascism, their icon is Hilter. They they will do what Hitler did. Hitler's propaganda minister would tell a lie hundreds of times and it would seem to be true. The same thing is happening here now," Kumar said.
"Don't let your differences lead to communal violence. Let their dream to hoist the Indian flag at the Red Fort be a dream only," he said
Kumar mocked at Modi's "amazing" knowledge of history, referring to his wrong mention of historical site Taxila being in Bihar and Chandragupta Maurya as having belonged to the Gupta dynasty.
In a point-by-point rebuttal, Kumar said that while speaking against him at the Patna rally, Modi had in his "excitement" given out wrong historical information.
Acting like a "knowledgeable person", Modi referred to Chandragupta as great king of Gupta dynasty instead of Maurya dynasty which ruled from Patliputra which is now Patna, he said.
"The BJP leader in excitement cited wrong history by saying Taxila was a great historical site in Bihar which is wrong as the place is in North-West Pakistan. Chanakya, the great economist who had written 'Arthasashtra', was a teacher there before coming to Patliputra," a smiling Kumar said, adding he had even visited there once.
"Alexander had never reached Ganga as he was stopped at river Satluj itself," he said.
Kumar also dismissed Modi's version of the lunch stories where he alleged that the JD(U) leader was uncomfortable in his presence while sharing a table with him.
"The lunch story hosted by Prime Minister was concocted as this never happened. Once I shared table with him at a function of former Chief Justice of Patna High Court Justice Bhatt at Ahmedabad and had a good dinner of dhokla and ice cream. He (Modi) was a guest there and I too was a guest," he said.
He was referring to Modi's claim that Kumar was not taking food and water at a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister and that the Gujarat leader had to comfort him saying that there were no cameras around.
"During that dinner I was told that people from Gujarat are great lovers of ice cream as sweet dish. But, I find no trace of sweetness in the toungue of this man (Narendra Modi)," he said taking potshots at Modi.