New Delhi, Nov. 7: Bihar still bothers Narendra Modi, even in Bastar.
Modi merely made a tangential reference to Maoist insurgency in his first foray in Bastar, known as the most dreaded rebel den, in Chhattisgarh today.
The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate addressed two meetings in Bastar headquarters Jagdalpur and nearby Kanker to solicit votes for his party and chief minister Raman Singh.
The stray allusion that figured towards the end of Modi’s first speech in Jagdalpur said nothing about his thoughts on Maoism. It was more a put-down of his political challenger, Nitish Kumar. Modi’s rallies in Bastar were closely watched in Delhi for a possible articulation on Maoism, an issue that his peer, Manmohan Singh, battled for much of his 10-year tenure.
Governments, said Modi, must be “welfare-oriented” and “sensitive to people’s sufferings”.
“Raman has seen his police jawans being killed by the Maoists’ bullets and other bloodbaths. Yet, he was resolute enough to not allow the attacks to thwart his welfare programmes for people. I want to portray the faces of two governments, one that is ultra-sensitive and the other that is opportunistic. In May this year, Raman went on a development yatra in Bastar to disseminate his government’s achievements. The Congress, not to be left behind, also launched a yatra. Tragically, the Maoists eliminated most of their top leaders. Raman immediately called off his yatra and went to condole the families of the deceased. Recently, there were bomb blasts in Patna and people died. What did the Bihar government do? Not grieve for the departed but celebrate the occasion by serving chhapan bhog (a sumptuous feast) in a party (Janata Dal-United) convention. Its attitude smacked of arrogance,” alleged Modi.
Aware that he was speaking from one of India’s most economically deprived region consisting largely of Dalits and tribals, Modi donned a proletarian’s mantle, far removed from his image as a friend of the corporates. “Governments must not serve the Ambanis, Tatas and Birlas. They don’t need governments, do they? The poor need governments, to build their roads, schools and colleges, to see that nobody remains hungry and medicines and health services are readily available,” he said.
Modi attempted to punch holes in the Congress’s welfare sheet because shortly before he spoke, Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was in another part of Chhattisgarh, had listed the UPA’s pro-people programmes. Poverty and correcting social and economic inequities have been running themes in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s addresses.
Modi took the Gandhis head-on.
“The Delhi government is unconcerned about the poor, its leaders don’t know what it is to sleep on an empty stomach. The ‘shahzada’ (Rahul) says poverty is a state of mind. This has to be a bad joke cracked by a person who purchases bottled water at Rs 100 each from a five-star hotel. I have spent a good part of my life in poverty so I will not say things like the poor can happily exist on Rs 26 a day. I know these days you won’t even get a cup of tea for Rs 5,” he said.
