He accused the Congress party and its allies of trying to “divide” the Other Backward Classes community into sub-castes to secure political gains. At an election rally in Bokaro, Jharkhand asked the community to unite under the slogan, “Ek rahenge toh safe rahenge” (We will be safe if we are united).
Modi further said that since the OBC reservations came in the 1990s, Congress has never been able to cross even the barrier of 250 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and accused them of having a “divide and rule” policy by breaking the unity of the OBCs into smaller groups.
“The unity of castes under the OBC umbrella has strengthened our nation. But Congress and JMM want to divide these caste groups and provoke war among them,” Modi said, appealing to the people to think of what will happen if disunity is sown.
Further, Modi talked about the role of Jharkhand youth in the armed forces. He mentioned the sacrifice of soldiers due to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, attributing part of the fault to Article 370. He said this obstruction has been removed by him forever.
He compared his work with Congress’s and claimed the latter opposed such reforms. “For the first time, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir took the oath on Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution. That is my tribute to Ambedkar,” Modi said.
Seeking to tap into the recent unrest in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly over a resolution for the restoration of special status under Article 370, Modi accused the Congress and its allies of trying to “oust” Ambedkar’s Constitution from the region and deny the rights given by it to the marginalized sections. “They want to throw our soldiers into the fire of terror. Do you accept this from the Congress?” he asked.
Reiterating BJP’s determination to stop infiltration into Jharkhand, the Prime Minister appealed for an NDA government to ensure the safety of women and land. “We need to build a prosperous Jharkhand. I seek your support to ensure the victory of BJP, AJSU, LJP, and JDU candidates,” he said.
Modi also attacked the ruling JMM and the Congress for allegedly creating a “paper leak mafia,” and a “recruitment mafia,” assuring that job exam leaks being one of the prime issues in this election campaign, the culprits would be brought out and punished.
Recalling the past financial support, Modi compared the ₹ 80,000 crore assistance given to Jharkhand when the Congress-led government was at the Centre from 2004 to 2014 with the over ₹ 3 lakh crore accorded by his regime in the past ten years: “Isn’t this a fourfold increase? Don’t we love you fourfold?”
Schedule Jharkhand is scheduled to go to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20, with counting slated on November 23.
