In a veiled attack at the Congress and the RJD, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that allies of “jungle raj” in Bihar have a problem with chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Shri Ram”.
Addressing a rally in Saharsa, north Bihar, PM Modi said that the state has left behind the darkness of insecurity and anarchy and added that poor were denied the right to vote during ‘jungle raj’. “Those who ran ‘jungle raj’ in Bihar and their allies want that you don’t raise ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans. Think about it. There are people who get feverish just by saying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Allies of jungle raj want slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ should not be raised. They want that you should not say ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” the Prime Minister said.
“Allies of jungle raj in Bihar have problem with Bharat Mata. One group says you should not raise the Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan and the other group experiences headaches due to the slogan. Now, these people who are against Bharat Mata have come to seek votes. There is a need to give a befitting answer to such people in this election,” he added.
The Prime Minister said that booths used to be captured during ‘jungle raj’ but now people are not afraid. “Poor people did not have the right to choose their government. During jungle raj, the poor were not allowed to step out of their houses. Booths were captured. Such people are trying to take Bihar back to that time. But they are forgetting that people will not be misled by them and are not afraid of them either,” he said. “Today, Bihar has left behind the darkness of insecurity and anarchy. The double engine government has done unprecedented work at a big scale in past years,” he added.
Meanwhile, the second phase of the Assembly elections in Bihar for 94 seats concluded peacefully on Tuesday with few incidents of violence.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had registered 54.05 percent till 6 pm. The polling is over 2 per cent lower when compared to the 2015 Assembly election when the ECI had registered 56.17 per cent polling in these areas.
The maximum polling turnout was at Muzaffarpur with 59.98 per cent followed by Begusarai at 58.67 per cent and Sitamarhi at 57.4 per cent. The turnout in other districts such as East Champaran was 56.75 per cent, West Champaran 55.99 per cent, Sheohar 56.04 per cent, Darbhanga 54.15 per cent, Madhubani 52.67 per cent, Gopalganj 55.09 per cent, Siwan 51.88 per cent, Saran 54.15 per cent, Vaishali 51.93 per cent, Samastipur 56.02 per cent, Khagaria 56.10 per cent, Bhagalpur 54.54 per cent, Nalanda 51.06 per cent and Patna 48.23 per cent.
Bihar’s chief electoral officer H.R. Srinivas said a total of 1,463 candidates were in the fray including 1316 male, 146 female and one third gender. The ECI has used 50,115 control units, 73,210 ballot units (EVMs) and 53,853 VVPATS in the 94 constituencies.
“We have deployed 47 general observers, 15 police observers, 3260 micro observers, 634 model polling stations, 3111 Android phones and 1572 video cameras in this election,” added Srinavas.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS