KARAKAT: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking at a rally in Bihar’s Karakat Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday, framed the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as a choice between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Shah contrasted Modi, who has spent Diwali with Army personnel, with Gandhi, who “rushes abroad for vacations whenever the weather becomes uncomfortable.”
Shah criticized the INDIA bloc, calling it a group of “scamsters guilty of financial wrongdoings worth Rs 12 lakh crore,” and praised Modi’s “unblemished record during his 23 years as Chief Minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister.” He highlighted Modi’s humble beginnings, mentioning that Modi worked hard to rise to the top, coming from an “ati pichhda (extremely backward class) family” and once selling tea to make ends meet, unlike Gandhi, who Shah said was “born with a silver spoon.”
The former BJP president attacked the Congress for being “scared of Pakistan’s atomic bombs” and asserted the government’s determination to reclaim Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, saying, “which was ours, is ours, and shall remain ours.” He also condemned opposition parties for providing reservations to Muslims in states they govern, “cutting into the share of SCs, STs, and OBCs,” and emphasized Modi’s commitment to ending this practice.
Shah accused the opposition of opposing the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a project realized under Modi’s leadership. He was campaigning for NDA partner Upendra Kushwaha, whose main challenger is a candidate from the CPI(ML) Liberation party.
Shah reminded the audience of the Naxal violence that once plagued Bihar and warned that a victory for the Left party could lead to a resurgence of such incidents. Known as the BJP’s principal strategist, Shah claimed the NDA had “notched up 310 seats in the first five phases” of the Lok Sabha polls and was on track to achieve the target of 400-plus seats in the final phases.