Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Bihar for the second time in less than a week, on Wednesday said the development of the state gained pace after 'double-engine' govt took over.
Speaking in Bettiah in West Champaran district, PM Modi said the NDA rescued Bihar from jungle raj, while the double-engine govt will provide employment to the youths.
The prime minister also lashed out at RJD president Lalu Prasad and his family calling them "the biggest offenders of Bihar". The renewed attacks on the RJD supremo comes days after Lalu Prasad Yadav remarked that PM Modi "is not a Hindu" and "didn't shave off his head after his mother's death."
PM Modi accused Lalu Prasad and his family of ushering in jungle raj in the state during its more than a decade-long rule.
Modi alleged that the youths of Bihar had been compelled to migrate in large numbers due to the misrule of the RJD-Congress combine. He added that it was only after the NDA government took charge that the state began to witness improvements.
"The family responsible for jungle raj...they are biggest offenders (sabse bade gunahgar) of Bihar. Their misrule imperilled the future of an entire generation. Youths were forced to migrate to other parts of the country, while only one family prospered", said Modi.
The PM also reacted to Lalu Prasad's barb that his attacks on dynastic politics stemmed from his having "no family" and said "had people like Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Karpoori Thakur been alive, these people would have attacked them, too, for not promoting their own families".
"Their main grouse against me seems to be that I have no family. For me, the entire country is my family. And today the entire nation is saying that it sees itself as Modi Ka Parivar", PM Modi reportedly said.
The prime minister remarked that the land of Bihar saying the Champaran Satyagrah "transformed Mohandas (Gandhi) into Mahatma."
In an apparent reference to DMK leader A Raja's controversial remarks, the PM remarked, "West Champaran is the land of Sage Valmiki, where Goddess Sita took shelter and Luv-Kush were born. The people here will not forgive the insults being heaped on Lord Ram by INDI alliance leaders. The people are also taking note as to who are encouraging such attacks on our culture and tradition".
The Prime Minister also renewed the pitch for a "400 plus tally" for the BJP-led NDA in upcoming Lok Sabha polls, asserting that it was "needed to make India the third largest economy in the world and to pull people out of the clutches of poverty".
PM Modi also unveiled projects worth Rs 12,800 crore at a programme at Bettiah, the district headquarters town of West Champaran.
Bihar Governor Rajendra V Arlekar, Deputy CMs Samat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha and state minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of the JD(U) were among those present, as per PTI.
However, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was not present at the programme. He also inaugurated 109-km-long Muzaffarpur-Motihari LPG pipeline of Indian Oil, which will provide cleaner cooking fuel to people in Bihar and neighbouring Nepal.