Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday castigated the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha alliance, saying they follow the politics of “deception” while the Bharatiya Janata Party believes in working for people, PTI reported.

Modi, who addressed an election rally in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, defended his government’s decision to remove the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir, and spoke about the proposed construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“Article 370 is gone from Jammu and Kashmir and an Adivasi lieutenant governor has been entrusted with the task of taking the newly created Union Territories forward on the path of development,” the prime minister said. Indian Administrative Service officer Girish Chandra Murmu took oath as the first lieutenant governor of the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31.

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The prime minister blamed the Congress for creating obstructions in the Ayodhya case in the Supreme Court. “We ensured peaceful settlement of the Ayodhya dispute after the Congress kept it hanging fire for decades,” Modi said. “Lord Ram left Ayodhya as a prince but returned as ‘Maryada Purushottam’ 14 years later as he spent time with Adivasis in forests.”

In a unanimous verdict on November 9, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to set up a trust within three months to oversee the construction of the Ayodhya temple. The court said Muslims should be given five acres of land elsewhere in the city for the construction of a new mosque.

Modi heaped praise on the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, crediting it for “breaking the back” of Maoists.

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“Jharkhand is now 19 years old,” he said. “It will soon stop being a teenager... I want you to stand with me and I promise you that when Jharkhand turns 25 you will not be able to recognise it.”

Assembly polls in Jharkhand are being held in five phases. Results will be announced on December 23.