Motihari: Prime Minister Narendra Modi prefaced his speech in Bhojpuri, a dialect largely spoken in Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh, at the East Champaran district headquarters, around 153km north of Patna, on Tuesday.

The town was agog over Modi's Bhojpuri.

"For the first few seconds, the speech seemed in an alien language before I was told it is the locally spoken Bhojpuri," said Belal Ahmad, a swakchhgrahi from Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Bhojpuri was the only language spoken in Champaran 100 years ago. It was, in a sense, was the first language of the Satyagraha which went unnoticed throughout the centenary celebrations. The PM has accorded due respect to this language," said Nirala Tiwari, the founder of a literary and cultural group, Bidesia.

Madan Mohan Tiwari, Congress MLA from the West Champaran district headquarters Bettiah, quipped: "India has never seen such a talented PM who deceives the local people in their own language wherever he goes."