Patna, May 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lambasted the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), holding them responsible for decades of backwardness in Bihar and said that the new dawn of progress began in the state only after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power.

Addressing a large gathering in Bihar’s Karakat, PM Modi said that Congress and RJD looted the people of the state for decades, but now are claiming to be the champions of social justice.

“For decades, people from the Backward Classes and Dalits remained deprived of basic facilities and social amenities, including toilets, drinking water, but this never bothered them. Today they are talking about public welfare only because their existence has come under threat,” PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister highlighted the slew of development initiatives and projects launched under the NDA government and also counted the achievements before the people.

“NDA government has built four crore pucca houses, set a target of three crore Lakhpati didis, brought 12 crore tap water connections and ensured free medical services to all the senior citizens,” PM Modi pointed out.

“We have provided basic amenities of life to the poor. We are working to provide those facilities to 100 per cent of the beneficiaries,” he added.

Comparing this to the ‘jungle raj’ of previous regimes, he said that people of the state lived without basic amenities and in utter despair.

“There were no basic amenities — crores of people lived without toilets, and there were no pucca houses for Dalits. People didn’t have access to bank accounts. They were forced to leave the state,” he said.

He also demanded that Congress and the RJD answer why people were kept in backwardness for years.

PM Modi also spotlighted the growing focus on Bihar’s Makhana industry after the Centre allotted it a GI tag and how lakhs of farmers are benefitting from it.

“Our endeavour is to bring every deprived and unprivileged family under the ambit of development, where they benefit from public welfare schemes,” PM Modi told the gathering.

–IANS

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