Lakhisarai (Bihar): A week after opposition parties met in Patna to forge national-level unity against BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday dubbed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as a ‘failed leader” and branded Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a leader who has “lost credibility”.
Shah while addressing a public meeting at Lakhisarai in Munger Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar, said that any attempt of opposition parties to forge unity for the next Lok Sabha elections, would not succeed as people were “not prepared to accept” them. Recent opposition parties’ meeting in Patna was just a photo session and nothing more, he quipped.
The Union Minister called Rahul Gandhi a “failed leader” as Congress had been trying to launch him for the last 20 years without any success. People were not prepared to accept him despite his repeated launching and relaunching by the congress during the last two decades, he said.
“In the history of any political party, no particular leader has been launched and relaunched for decades”, he remarked.
Shah, also a senior BJP leader, chose to target both Rahul Gandhi and Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, amidst speculation they could be probable PM candidates of the proposed alliance of opposition parties.
“In BJP, no leader has ever been launched by the party but it is the people who have launched the leader of BJP”, the Union Minister said, adding that both Gandhi and Kumar were dreaming to become Prime Minister. Actually, Kumar was befooling the RJD president Lalu Prasad, he said in an oblique reference to Kumar’s “promise” to Lalu that he would switch over to national politics and thereby pave the way for Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Prasad Yadav to become Chief Minister. But in reality, Kumar was not going anywhere, commented Shah.
Shah said that Kumar has “lost his credibility” by changing “home” frequently, alluding to the chief minister changing his allies several time.
“People have never accepted a leader who frequently changed his home,” he said.
Kumar had changed his loyalty to the NDA and Grand Alliance three times since 2013.
Shah said Kumar began his political career by opposing the then “corrupt and dictatorial” Congress government at the Centre in mid-seventies, and became Chief Minister of Bihar by opposing the corrupt Lalu-Rabri government in 2005. He wondered how Kumar could join hands with both Congress and Lalu.
Shah said that leaders of opposition parties who participated in recent meeting in Patna were burdened with corruption of more than Rs 20 lakhs crores. “How could people trust them,’ he asked.
The Home Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the people of the country, and Bihar in particular. He listed various welfare and development schemes launched by the Modi government benefitting millions of people in the country and Bihar which included Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana among others.
Shah said there were 75 lakh beneficiaries of Health Insurance Schemes in Bihar known as Ayushman Bharat Yojna. A total of 37 lakh dwelling units were constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Bihar, he pointed out.
The Union Minister asked Kumar to place accounts of work done by him before the people. In this context, Shah said he has come to Bihar to place before the people the accounts of work done by the Modi government.
Shah said India’s respect had increased considerably during the BJP-led regime at the Centre as world leaders were now seeking appointment with PM Modi while the head of the state of a country touched Modi’s feet to seek his blessings. During the then Congress regime at the Centre, India was considered a weak country as no strong action was taken against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, he remarked.
The Union Minister said the Modi government had launched two major operations “Surgical strike” and “Air Strike” to target terrorists based in Pakistan. Such a bold step was never taken by the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government, he claimed
Shah exhorted the people of Bihar to extend their support to BJP to enable the party to win all forty Lok Sabha seats in the state in the next Lok Sabha elections. He also appealed to them to ensure the formation of a BJP government in Bihar in the 2025 state assembly elections.
