'Maa, don't worry about Chhath, your son is sitting in Delhi': PM Modi strikes a chord with Bihar women
"Maa, your son is sitting in Delhi," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday as he promised the women of Bihar to ensure that their kitchen fires are kept burning despite the coronavirus pandemic. Striking a chord with the state's women voters, the prime minister at an election rally in Chhapra said, "My mothers need not worry about whether they would be able to afford Chhath festivities a few weeks from now. Do remember this son of yours is sitting in Delhi. He will take care of all your needs".
Modi, during his address, referred to a video, which has gone viral on social media, where an old village woman snaps at a journalist who poses her the question "what has Modi done for you." The prime minister said he was impressed when the woman fluently spoke about the welfare measures undertaken by his government and hurled the counter question when Modi has done so much for us, do you expect us to vote for you and not for him. She expressed the sentiment shared by most voters of Bihar, he said at the poll rally.
The prime minister also exuded confidence of NDA coming back to power in Bihar. "This has left our opponents frustrated. They have started pushing and shoving their own supporters," Modi said in a veiled referrence to a recent video of Tejashwi Yadav where he grabbed a supporter by the arm and pushed him aside".
Calling the RJD-Congress combine an alliance of "double-double yuvraj" (two crown princes, Modi said their sole concern was to protect their "respective thrones."
"On the one hand, there is development brought in by the double engine government of the NDA. On the other there are these double-double yuvraj with the sole agenda of saving their thrones," he said referring to Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi who have shared the stage during elections quite a few times.
"One of them failed in UP a few years ago and is now lending his support to the 'yuvraj of jungle raj' in Bihar. They are going to fail here again," Modi said recalling the short-lived SP-Congress alliance which was trounced in the assembly polls of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
He brought up the issue of "ill treatment and insult" to former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh by the family of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad which ultimately led to the founding member quitting the party a day before his death.
Elections are slated to be held in three phases for the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar. The first phase of elections took place in Bihar on October 28. In the second phase, voting for 94 seats will be held on November 3. In the third phase, 78 seats will go to polls on November 7. Counting will take place on November 10.
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