Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hit out at the Janata Parivar leaders, including Nitish Kumar and his new-found ally Lalu Prasad, appealing to the people of Bihar to end “Jungle Raj” by voting the BJP to power.
“If a BJP leader is shot dead in the State Capital in broad daylight, is it not an indication of return of ‘Jungle Raj-2’,” Modi asked the mammoth gathering at a rally in Gaya on Sunday.
He was taking a dig at the alliance of Nitish with Lalu, whose rule, including that of Rabri Devi, has been described as “Jungle Raj”.
Without taking names, Modi said the “Jungle Raj-2” has an added significance as the alliance partner (Lalu) was in jail till last year. “Tell me, if a person serves a jail sentence, will he ever be able to serve the society better or will he bring in more anarchy in the days to come?,” Modi said.
Lalu responds
Lalu was quick to respond to Modi’s taunt. “Modi must be knowing better as his party president Amit Shah had been to jail on genocide charges,” argued Lalu, while lamenting that the prime minister stooped to such lows in criticising the opponents. “Never before has any prime minister hit his opponents below the belt or taken the political rivalry to such low level. ‘Amaryadit bhashan nahin karna chahiye’ (He should desist from using offensive language while delivering speech),” said Lalu, who had invited the same Modi to his daughter’s wedding earlier this year.
Nitish was also offended when Modi, during his speech, coined a new term for JD(U): “Janata ka Daman (abuse) aur Utpidan (exploitation).”
Branding the Modi regime as the “Union Twitter Government” and the BJP as “Badka Jhoot Party” (biggest liar party), Nitish reminded the prime minister that he had requested him (Modi) to withdraw his remarks made on Nitish’s DNA. “It’s more than 72 hours. You have not responded to my request,” said Nitish and asked Modi to follow Raj dharma as Atal Bihari Vajpayee had once advised him.
Lalu went a step further in deriding Modi.
“It’s regretful that Modi is branding a duly-elected government, that too with massive mandate, as Jungle Raj. But let me remind him that it’s not Jungle Raj-2, but it’s Mandal Raj-2,” in an oblique reference to Mandal Commission which changed the Bihar polity.
“And this Mandal Raj will never allow Kamandal (BJP) to come to power,” added Lalu.