Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday charged the RJD with having stalled development projects in Bihar by putting pressure on the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to “avenge” its ouster from power in the state in 2005.

Addressing a rally in Saharsa district in north Bihar, Modi also reiterated that the Congress grudgingly agreed to declare Tejashwi Yadav as the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial candidate, after the RJD placed a ‘katta’ or illegal country-made gun on its head.

“Now in the current elections, the Congress, which is already a spent force in Bihar, has vowed to make the RJD sink,” he claimed.

Modi urged the people to punish the RJD for its “sins” and asserted “the NDA stands for development while the jungle raj wallahs for destruction”.

“The RJD was sharing power at the Centre when it was voted out of power in Bihar in 2005. Projects like the Kosi Mahasetu had been sanctioned by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. So enraged was the RJD by Nitish Kumar forming a new government in the state that it put pressure on Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi and stalled all such projects in Bihar,” he alleged.

“The RJD can never understand the sufferings of the people of the Kosi region, which were alleviated through the construction of the bridge. We are also working on the interlinking of rivers. The NDA manifesto has also put forth a blueprint on flood control,” he said.

Speaking in an area which has a substantial Muslim population, Modi charged the RJD-Congress combine with being soft on “infiltrators” and disdainful towards the Ram temple at Ayodhya and the Chhath festival.

“The leaders of the RJD and Congress take time off to visit all types of places abroad. But they do not get the time to visit Ayodhya. If they have so much dislike for Lord Ram, they can still go and see the monuments built in the memory of Nishad Raj and Valmiki,” said the PM, in an apparent jibe at the INDIA bloc’s pro-deprived caste stance.

Noting that the north Bihar region of Mithila was known, in ancient times, for female deities like Sita, Bharti and Gargi, the PM said, “From this land of glorious women, I would like to congratulate our daughters who have done us proud by winning the Cricket World Cup.”

Highlighting the achievements by women in various walks of life, Modi said that those who made fun of the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” slogan must be feeling mortified over having heaped so much scorn on the country’s women.

“To our mothers and sisters who have benefited from welfare schemes of the NDA, I would say, beware of the ‘jungle raj wallahs’; they intend to put a stop to all these measures upon coming to power,” he claimed.

Modi also highlighted the special regard he has had for Bihar and its specialities, and pointed towards a garland of “makhana” which was presented to him at the stage.

“I gift makhana boxes to world leaders during foreign visits, tell them this is the hard work of Bihar’s farmers,” he said.

The PM also sought to underscore the alleged lawlessness that prevailed during the RJD rule, saying that “even police personnel, who wanted to carry out their responsibilities conscientiously, were not safe. Those involved in building highways were killed. People from backward and extremely backward classes suffered atrocities”.

“DSP Satyapal Singh was murdered in Saharsa as he acted against lawlessness,” he added.

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, he said, “They are day-dreaming about forming the next government at the Centre and promising to set up a university at Nalanda, an ancient seat of learning, where foreigners would come to pursue education.”

“The Congress has a habit of lying. I am telling you that a modern university has been built at Nalanda. When they were in power, a paltry sum of Rs 20 crore was sanctioned for the project, and then they forgot about it. After we came to power in 2014, we spent Rs 2,000 crore on it,” he claimed.

—PTI