Kharge questions PM Modi about promised Bihar package, says Waqf Bill aimed at dividing people

Buxar (Bihar): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday criticised prime minister Narendra Modi for going back on his promise to provide a Rs 1.25 lakh crore package to Bihar, which he had made 10 years ago.

Addressing a largely attended ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ public meeting here, the Congress president listed a ‘sequence of lies of the prime minister’, saying he had never stood by what he had announced.

‘BJP-RSS conspiracy’

The Congress president also stated that there was a BJP-RSS conspiracy to implicate Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, so that Congress members may get scared.

He said, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi belong to a family which has a great and glorious record of sacrifices for the unity and integrity of the country. He pointed out, Indira Gandhi took bullets on her chest for preserving the unity and integrity of the country. Same way, Rajiv Gandhi was martyred for the country.

Asserting that the National Herald case was a conspiracy, Kharge said, nobody can claim or take away the property associated with the National Herald. He said the BJP and RSS were spreading lies about the case. He pointed out that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had donated his ancestral house and other ancestral properties to the Congress party.

‘BJP wants to polarise country’

Referring to the Waqf Amendment Act passed by the BJP government in two Houses of the Parliament, the Congress president observed that the BJP wanted to polarise people and create a division between Hindus and Muslims.

Suggesting that the alliance between the BJP and Nitish Kumar was just a marriage of convenience, he pointed out how Nitish would hop here and there for his own personal interest. He said he had aligned with the BJP just for his own chair and not for protecting and safeguarding the interests of Bihar.

Kharge reminded Modi of his promise made in 2015 that he will provide a special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crores to Bihar. He asked what happened to that package and played the video of PM Modi making the commitment ten years ago.

He called Modi the ‘master of all liars’, and listed his other ‘false promises’ such as providing 2 crore jobs every year, depositing Rs 15 lakhs in every Indian’s bank account, doubling the income of farmers and other things.

He remarked that the BJP and Modi were treating the Congress leaders like their enemies, and that is why they were slapping false cases on the Gandhi family. But, he warned, neither the Gandhis nor the Congress people will be scared by Modi’s ways of intimidation and arm-twisting.

Importance of Bihar

Kharge had special praise for Bihar and its people. He pointed out, Mahatma Buddha attained enlightenment in Bihar, and it was from here that he spread the message of peace across the world. He said, the world has now realised that it is “Buddh over Yudh” (peace over conflict).

Similarly, he added, the Tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was also born in Patna and spread the message of peace and sacrifice across the globe.

He made a fervent appeal to people that if they want peace and progress of Bihar and welfare of their children and the future generations, they must throw out the Nitish-BJP government and bring in the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (alliance) government.