NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday sounded an early poll bugle in Bihar where he launched multi-crore projects and disbursed the 19th tranche of PM-Kisan scheme instalment worth Rs 22,000 crore.
The money was sent directly to the bank accounts of 9.8 crore farmers nationally, including 75 lakh Bihar farmers, who received the amount on Monday.
Reiterating the BJP-led NDA government’s commitment to farmers and the direct cash transfer through the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, the PM said it was now time for Bihar’s makhana (fox nut) to enter the global market.
Flanked by NDA ally and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) and his colleagues, Modi said Bihar was on course to become a major centre for the food processing industry in eastern India.
Among the major pre-poll announcements made by the PM were the establishment of the National Institute of Food Technology and Entrepreneurship in Bihar and three new centres of excellence in agriculture one in Bhagalpur for the Jardalu variety of mangoes, and the other two in Munger and Buxar for tomato, onion and potato farmers.
“Our government is leaving no stone unturned in drafting pro-farmer decisions. We are working on multiple levels to increase farmers’ income. Every kitchen in the world should have at least one product grown by Indian farmers,” said Modi, flagging efforts to boost self-reliance in oilseeds and pulses with a promise of enhanced MSP for pulses.
Modi also spoke of the newly budgeted PM Dhan Dhanya Yojana under which 100 lowest agricultural production districts of India will be assisted to do better.
The declaration of projects apart, Modi’s choice of Bhagalpur as the location for his first election year rally in the state is significant. The silk city which, the PM said, would boost India’s role as a major textiles exporter, has been electorally a weak link for the saffron party.
Bhagalpur, Kosi and the adjoining Seemanchal segments have long remained traditional bastions of the opposition RJD and Congress on account of the Muslim-EBC (economically backward classes) electorate mix.
Although the BJP, with Nitish as an ally in 2005 and 2010, did well in the area, it suffered heavily after Nitish’s exit from the NDA in 2013. In the 2014 General Election, in spite of a Modi wave, the BJP lost five Lok Sabha seats in this area, managing leads in only seven of the 66 Assembly constituencies across Bhagalpur, Kosi and Purnia divisions. In the Assembly bypoll a year later in 2015, the BJP lost Bhagalpur to the Congress.
With Nitish Kumar back in the NDA fold in January 2024, the BJP can hope for gains in the belt but is leaving no chances given the history of the minority polarisation here.
Though in his address today, the PM steered clear of communal rhetoric choosing to focus on farmers and Bihar’s development, he did attack “the flag bearers of jungle raj (a term often used to describe former CM Lalu Yadav’s rule) and those abusing the Maha Kumbh”.
“Those irritated with the Ram Temple in Ayodhya are leaving no stone unturned to slam the Maha Kumbh, the biggest festival of India’s faith in Prayagraj,” he said with the BJP focusing attention on the eastern state where it needs to work out a reasonable seat-sharing deal with the JD(U), LJP and the HAM.
In the 2020 Bihar elections, the BJP posted a high strike rate, winning 74 of the 110 Assembly segments it contested in alliance with the JD(U). The JD(U) won only 43 of the 115 seats it contested but Nitish became CM.
In 2022, Nitish, sensing threat to his chair, dumped the BJP and stayed CM with the RJD and Congress .