PM Modi rakes up Ayodhya to hit out at rivals at Bihar rally

TIL Desk/National/Patna/ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the second leg of his campaign for Bihar assembly elections, raking up the Ayodhya issue and urging the people to defeat the Opposition which had ushered in a ‘jungle raj’ in the state and embezzled funds meant for development schemes. Invoking the imagery of Goddess Sita and her father Janaka, the king of Mithila of which this north Bihar town became the capital later on, Modi said those who used to taunt the Bharatiya Janata Party over the delay in construction of Ram temple were now forced to applause.

“I am happy to be here, in the birth place of Mother Sita. Construction of temple at Ayodhya has also begun. Those siyasi log (political opponents) who used to taunt us with the question what is the date (for commencement of construction), have now been forced to clap in applause,” Modi told a rally in Darbhanga. The prime minister, who shared the stage with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, lavished praise on the latter, calling him the ‘bhaavi mukhyamantri’ (prospective CM) and crediting him with Bihar’s economic turnaround.

“The people of Bihar have made up their mind to inflict yet another defeat on those responsible for the ‘jungle raj’ where crime graph had soared to an extent that living a normal life became difficult for the common people, our mothers and sisters,” Modi said in an obvious attack on the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine, without mentioning either by name.