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With the campaign peaking for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly election, due on November 6, Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, and Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) supremo Nitish Kumar, both allies in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Saturday warned of the return of ‘jungle raj’ if the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) came to power. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face, hit back at the allegations. Mr. Shah addressed two public meetings in Gopalganj and Samastipur districts, virtually from a hotel in Patna due to inclement weather, while Mr. Kumar reached the venues of public meetings by road, and released a video of over three minutes to the people of the State. “Being a Bihari was a matter of insult” but after coming to power in 2005, he had “served them with honesty and hard work”, Mr. Kumar said in the video address. “This election is an opportunity to decide who should be entrusted with the future of Bihar. On the one hand, there are those who ushered in ‘jungle raj’ in the State while, on the other, there is the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who have brought development into the State,” Mr. Shah said in his video address to the people of Gopalganj, who gathered at the Minj ground in the town despite a steady drizzle. In his address, Mr. Shah also recalled the notoriety of Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, during the previous RJD regime. “The people of Gopalganj have never voted for the RJD for long, and I am sure they will maintain the trend. Nobody knows the misdeeds of Sadhu Yadav better than the people of Gopalganj,” Mr. Shah said in his approximately five minute-long video address. In the previous RJD regime, Sadhu Yadav was synonymous with “terror” in the State, he said. Mr. Sadhu Yadav, who infamously wielded significant clout in the previous RJD regime, won the Assembly election from Gopalganj in 2000; was elected to the Gopalganj Lok Sabha constituency in 2004-2009, and has been a member of the State Legislative Council twice. Speaking of “lawlessness” under the RJD’s rule, Mr. Shah also listed the names of villages where caste-based massacres had taken place, and many lost their lives. “It has placed the focus on the welfare of women and farmers,” Mr. Shah said, later referring to the manifesto released by the NDA on October 31. “I want to reiterate that there are two major things in the manifesto — Nitish Kumar ji and Prime Minister Narenda Modi have recently deposited ₹10,000 into the accounts of ‘Jeevika Didis’(a programme for the socio-economic empowerment of women in rural areas). They will also send up to ₹2 lakh to all Jeevika Didis in different ways. Second, we provide ₹6,000 annually to the 27 lakh farmers of Bihar, and now will add ₹3,000 more to this, and give ₹9,000 to them,” Mr. Shah said. All defunct “sugar mills of the State will be reopened in the next five years”, he announced. The Union Minister later addressed another public meeting at Ujjiyarpur in Samastipur district via video, again highlighting the “jungle raj” of the past. Mr. Kumar stressed the improvements he had made in the sectors of education, health, roads, electricity, drinking water, agriculture, and opportunities for youth. “My dear brothers and sister, you have given me the opportunity to serve you since 2005. I want to tell you that the situation in which you got Bihar, at that time, was not conducive. Being a Bihari was a matter of insult. But since then (2005), I served you day and night with honesty and hard work. Being a Bihari is not a matter of insult but a matter of respect now,” Mr. Kumar, who is leading the NDA’s Bihar campaign, said. “Whether you are a Hindu, Muslim, an upper caste, a Backward (Class), Dalit or Mahadalit, we have worked for everyone. I have not done anything for my family,” Mr. Kumar said, in a veiled reference to Mr. Lalu Prasad, who has declared his younger son, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav, as his political heir. “Give us one more chance and more work will be done, which will develop Bihar so much that it will be included among the top States,” Mr. Kumar urged voters. Mr. Tejashwi Yadav was also unable to fly in his helicopter on Saturday due to bad weather. In a phone message to the people of Sahebganj in Muzaffarpur, and other places, he urged them to “support the Mahagathbandhan candidates as I have promised jobs, and a corruption-free Bihar”. Earlier in the day, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav also hit out at Mr. Modi over a recent spate of killings in Bihar. “You talk of ‘jungle raj’, but what about the recent incidents of murders in the State, committed by criminals who are protected by those in power?” the RJD leader said.
