Bettiah: The East Champaran district unit of the Congress on Tuesday described swachhagrahis, the cleanliness "volunteers" who are to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's April 10 rally in Motihari, as RSS agents.

The Congress feels the swachhagrahis are being brought to the East Champaran district headquarters town, around 153km north of Patna, as part of the BJP's hidden agenda to create unrest in Bihar.

"Who are these swachhagrahis?" asked Shailendra Kumar Shukla, the East Champaran district president of the Congress, at a news meet in Motihari on Tuesday. "They are RSS agents who are being drawn from different parts of the country to damage the social fabric (of Bihar)," he said.

Modi is scheduled to address 20,000 swachhagrahis as part of the concluding ceremony for the year-long Champaran Satyagraha centenary celebrations launched by the Bihar government in April 2017.

Questioning the wisdom behind splurging crores of rupees on the rally, Shukla wanted to know where the money is coming from.

"During the 2014 election rally in Motihari, the PM had made tall promises to revive the Motihari Sugar Mill. But, ironically, the swachhagrahis' rally is being organised on the day an employee of the mill had immolated himself (in 2017). I would like to know from the Prime Minister if he is coming to celebrate the death anniversary," Shukla said.

RJD state spokesperson and legislator Rajendra Ram also slammed the Prime Minister. "The reason behind common people's restriction in the rally lies in the fact that the PM does not want to face the people because of his growing unpopularity," Rajendra said.

Bettiah MP and Bihar BJP vice-president Sanjay Jaiswal took potshots at the local Congress unit.

"Unnerved by the PM's popularity, even Gandhiwaadis have started to look like RSS agents for the Congress," he said. "These swachhagrahis are nothing but staunch followers of Gandhian philosophy."