Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav shared the stage on Wednesday as the Mahagathbandhan set aside the differences over seat-sharing and put up a united front at its first set of joint rallies since the Bihar polls were declared.
Rahul, leader of the Lok Sabha Opposition, mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting he would be ready to “dance on the stage” to win votes, and claimed chief minister Nitish Kumar was under the BJP’s “remote control”.
Tejashwi, aspiring chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, focused on the welfare sops the Opposition alliance has promised.
In the litchi heartland of Muzaffarpur, Tejashwi spoke of himself in the third person while referring to his 2022-24 term as deputy chief minister.
“Give him one chance. Tejashwi did what he said, and he will do what he is saying,” he declared.
“We gave 5 lakh jobs in 17 months when the government was formed. We initiated the process for 3 lakh more jobs. We gave the status of government employees to 4 lakh contractual teachers.
“And those same people were saying in between, ‘Where will he get the jobs from?’ We made them distribute the appointment letters. Without any paper leaks, honestly, Tejashwi gave jobs to these 5 lakh people from every caste and religion.”
He reeled off the doles the Mahagathbandhan has promised and talked a tough line on crime — an apparent counter to the “Jungle Raj” taint on past RJD governments.
Rahul Gandhi being greeted by supporters during a public meeting ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
“The price of a gas cylinder will be reduced to ₹500.... And look, whether it’s our own or someone else’s, if any criminal does wrong, Tejashwi will ensure they are put behind bars. Tejashwi will not compromise with corruption, crime or communalism,” he said.
Rahul said: “Tejashwiji said that Nitishji’s face is being used. The remote control is in the hands of the BJP... and they have nothing to do with social justice.
“I said in front of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha that you should conduct a caste census, but he didn’t say a word. Wherever you look, look at the education system, look at the health system, look at the bureaucracy, look at the list of judges, Narendra Modiji and the BJP are against social justice.”
He added: “And I told them that, ‘Look, the caste census is going to happen. Whether you like it or not, the caste census will happen. Everyone will know what the population of each group is’.”
In Darbhanga, the cultural hub of Mithilanchal — a BJP stronghold and the most populous part of the state — Rahul trained his guns at Modi.
He tauntingly suggested that the Prime Minister would do anything to canvass votes, alluding to speculation that Modi would perform Chhath rituals in a sanitised pond on the Yamuna’s banks (to avoid entering the polluted river itself). Modi, however, did not do so.
“At the next meeting, someone from the crowd will say, if 200 people from the crowd say, ‘Modiji, please dance on the stage, we will vote for you’, the dance will begin. He’ll start doing Bharatnatyam on the stage,” Rahul said.
Rahul added: “The Yamuna has dirty water. If someone drinks it, they’ll get sick or die. No one can go inside it. The water is so dirty. If you go in it, you’ll get sick right there. You’ll get a skin infection. But Modiji did a drama. He created a small pond there….
“For the elections, they’ll show you anything. ‘Look, I have a 56-inch chest. I’m going to bathe in the Yamuna. I don’t get any diseases. I have a direct connection from above. I talk directly to God’.”
Rahul brought up Donald Trump’s assertion about having brokered an India-Pakistan “ceasefire” by threatening high tariffs, which the US President has repeated dozens of times despite New Delhi denying any third-party involvement in the decision to stop hostilities.
“In the 1971 Bangladesh war, Indira Gandhi clearly told the American President: ‘We are not afraid of you....’ Donald Trump has said 50 times that he intimidated Narendra Modi. 50 times!” Rahul said.
“…He’s talking about our army. He’s talking about our air force. And our Prime Minister can’t say that this isn’t true, (that) ‘You’re lying’. He doesn’t have the guts. I challenge Narendra Modi that when he comes to Bihar today, he should say that Donald Trump is lying.”
Rahul stressed his themes of vote theft and the dignity of labour, underscoring that Bihari labour had helped build the infrastructure of contemporary India and other parts of the world, but its youth could not find work at home.
“Cities like Dubai have been built on your shoulders. Why are you not able to dothis work in Bihar? This work that you do in the rest of the world — in Mauritius, in Seychelles, in Fiji, in Dubai — why are you not able to do this work in Bihar?” he said.
“For 20 years, your government has been making false promises to you. But your education system, the colleges, universities, schools, the health system, hospitals, primary health care centres, all of them are ruined.”
Turning the glare on industrialists considered close to the Centre, Rahul referred to reports about land being leased to Adani’s power utility for a pittance in Bhagalpur.
“Okay, tell me, if there is a shortage of land, then which land is being given to Adani for ₹1?... When they have to give land to Ambani and Adani, they find land. When they have to snatch land from the farmer, they get the land in two minutes,” Rahul said.
“But when the farmer says that ‘My child wants to dream, wants to dream of employment. My child wants to run a business, open a factory, open a plant’, then Amit Shah says, ‘Brother, there is no land in Bihar’.”
Allies such as deputy chief minister hopeful Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party and I.P. Gupta of the Indian Inclusive Party praised Tejashwi and Rahul for giving seats and respect to their small, caste-based formations.
- Bihar votes on November 6 and 11
