Bharatiya Janata Party National President Jagat Prakash Nadda on Thursday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had handled the coronavirus pandemic by taking decisions in a time-bound manner, unlike in the United States.
“Results of US [United States] elections are being declared and the allegation against [US President] Donald Trump is that he could not handle Covid-19 properly, but Modiji saved India and its 130 crore population by taking timely decisions,” he said at a rally in Bihar’s Darbhanga district.
Nadda said that when a countrywide lockdown was imposed, there was only one coronavirus testing facility in India. “And Narendra Modi ensured that more than 1,650 [Covid-19] testing centres are set up across the country,” he said. Nadda also said that India was now making 4.5 lakh personal protective kits everyday.
The BJP chief claimed Modi provided rations to the more than 80 crore people during the lockdown and transferred money to 15 crore women.
He also claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar helped girls get an education in the state by providing them with bicycles and school dresses as part of the Centre’s “Beti Padhao Beti Bachao” initiative.
On the Ayodhya dispute, Nadda alleged that Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal used to tell the Supreme Court to postpone the matter as it would help the BJP, adding that Modi ensured that the court passed a judgement. “Were people from Darbhanga were kar sevaks or not?” he asked to the crowd. “Did you want a Ram Temple in Ayodhya or not?”
He also praised Modi for providing electricity to villages in Bihar. “In earlier times, electricity used to come and go,” he said. “There were inverters and generators in villages. Now, people have forgotten inverters and generators as there is light everywhere,” he claimed, adding that Modi took Bihar out of the “lantern era”. Lantern is the poll symbol of the RJD.
Nadda also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that he opposes India’s interests just to criticise Modi.
The BJP chief was campaigning for the third phase of Bihar polls. The third phase will see 78 constituencies go to polls on November 7. The first phase on October 28 witnessed nearly 55% turnout across 71 seats, while the 94 seats in the second phase recorded over 53% turnout. The results for all 243 seats will be declared on November 10.
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