Patna: As Bihar gears up to witness the high-decibel campaign in the run-up to Assembly elections, the BJP and RJD on Monday traded barbs over infiltrators sneaking into the country and also over their eviction after the polls.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh, speaking to the media on Monday, blasted the previous RJD-Congress regime for appeasement politics and warned of the eviction of all infiltrators when the NDA government returns to power in the state.
“If the (NDA) government is formed in Bihar, all infiltrators who have entered since 1971 will be identified and deported. Neither Rahul nor Lalu Yadav will be able to protect them,” Singh told the scribes.
RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha, reacting sharply to his deportation threat, pinned the blame on the BJP’s decade-old dispensation for keeping India’s border ‘porous and vulnerable’ and said that if such a problem exists, it is because of their own failings.
“Giriraj ji, you have been a minister in the NDA government for eleven years. Even if there is one infiltrator in Bihar, it’s your failure, and you are responsible for it. What has your government been doing for eleven years? You should seek the resignation of your Home Minister as nothing less than that will work,” RJD leader Manoj Jha said.
Further taking a personal taunt, he said, “Your department is all about Hindu-Muslim, jhatka-halal. Till today, no one understands what exactly you are a minister of.”
The RJD leader also slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of facilitating ‘vote chori’ in elections, under the “auspices of the current NDA dispensation”, and said that people on the ground will soon unite to defeat these forces.
“If you say ‘vote chor,’ even a child will respond ‘Gaddi Chor’. That child, who isn’t even a voter yet and will only become one after 10 years, already knows about vote theft. This sentiment has spread so widely that it will be difficult for the BJP and the Election Commission to control,” he said.
His remarks come in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav leading a 16-day foot march in the poll-bound state and repeatedly accusing the BJP of ‘manipulating institutions’ as well as the ‘media’ with exercises like Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
(IANS)
