Photos: PM Modi flays INDIA bloc for opposing SIR

Gayaji (Bihar): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday charged the INDIA bloc with opposing moves aimed at rooting out corruption in higher echelons of power and steps taken to tackle “threat” posed to the nation’s demography from “infiltrators”.

The PM made indirect references to the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, introduced by his government earlier this week, and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, currently being carried out in Bihar by the Election Commission, at a rally in Gayaji.

“We have seen a regrettable situation in which people in seats of power have been running governments from jail, signing files from behind bars, tearing to shreds constitutional propriety,” said Modi, in an apparent reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Proudly claiming that there was “no taint of corruption” on his 11-year-old government, the PM drew a contrast with the previous Congress regimes, which saw many scams coming to the fore, and the RJD, the corruption of which, while in power in Bihar, “is known even to the man on the street”.

“So, we decided to bring in a law that provides for dismissing a corrupt chief minister, or even the Prime Minister, if he or she spends 30 days in jail. A lowly clerk, if he is jailed for a short period, is placed under suspension. But when we brought in a stringent law, the RJD, the Congress and the Left were livid. They are angry because they are scared of facing punishment for their own sins,” Modi alleged.

“The Congress and RJD, while in power, filled up their coffers with public money. For this purpose, they would make projects linger on endlessly. In contrast, I am inaugurating a bridge today for which I had laid the foundation stone barely a few years ago,” he said.

“There is one more threat — that of infiltrators (ghuspaithiye) that our nation faces, which I also spoke about in my Independence Day speech. They cannot be allowed to partake of resources of our country. I have, therefore, called for a demography mission. But the Congress and the RJD want to protect these infiltrators for the sake of their politics of vote bank,” Modi alleged.

The allusion was to the SIR, one of the stated objectives of which has been to remove “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar” from the electoral rolls.

The EC, which has ordered the exercise in Bihar ahead of assembly polls, has made it clear that SIR will be undertaken across the country in due course.

However, the INDIA bloc has been alleging that the exercise in Bihar was aimed at “helping” the BJP-led NDA in assembly polls through wrongful deletion of names of voters.

A statewide ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ on the issue is also being taken out in the state by Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc’s face in Bihar, and other alliance partners.

The PM also charged the Congress with having been insensitive towards Bihar, alleging “one of its chief ministers had famously told a public rally that he would not allow immigrants from the state to set foot on the soil of his state”.

“And the RJD, their alliance partner, seemed to be in deep slumber, unable to protest against such an insult,” said PM, of the party which is the BJP’s principal rival in Bihar.

Describing Operation Sindoor as “a pledge I took on the soil of Bihar”, the PM said, “Now, the message is loud and clear that no terrorist can escape after striking anywhere on Indian soil. Our missiles will hunt them down to the deepest recesses of the earth (patal lok)”.

“Pakistan tried to retaliate, but none of its missiles could hit us. We blew away their missiles like pieces of straw (tinke ki tarah uda diya),” said Modi, who had vowed to avenge Pahalgam terror attack at a rally in Madhubani district of north Bihar.

The function was marked by the launch of development projects worth more than Rs 13,000 crore, in the presence of dignitaries like Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is also the local MP.

The PM reached the venue in an open vehicle, in a style that has marked his visits to Bihar for the past several months. He waved at the crowds from atop the vehicle, flanked by Kumar and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary.

Modi began his speech with a few lines in the local dialect Magahi, and described Gayaji as “the land of Lord Buddha and Lord Vishnu”, in an obvious reference to the Vishnupad temple and the nearby international Buddhist pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya.