Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reached out to women voters in poll-bound Bihar, saying that the cut in goods and services tax (GST) rates from September 22 would ease pressure on household budgets by lowering the cost of daily-use items, reducing kitchen expenses, and making stationery, clothes, and shoes for children cheaper.
Modi also laid the foundation stone and inaugurated projects worth Rs 40,000 crore in Purnia, in Bihar’s Seemanchal region, including its interim airport terminal building. He said his government had delivered on its promise by notifying the setting up of the National Makhana Board.
In his speech, the PM accused the opposition Congress–Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of supporting “infiltrators”, alleging that they were a law unto themselves and that women bore the brunt of the resulting lawlessness.
He praised the “leadership” of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and referred to women-centric schemes of the Centre and state government. Since 2010, women voters have played a crucial role in electoral victories of the Janata Dal (United)–Bharatiya Janata Party coalition. Modi credited the women of Bihar as the driving force behind the state’s transformation by keeping the opposition out of power.
The PM also invoked Purnia’s contribution to the freedom struggle and Operation Sindoor, noting that a “brave” son of the region had played a key role in the latter. While he did not name him, the reference was to Awadesh Kumar Bharti, India’s Deputy Chief of Air Staff, who as Director General of Air Operations played a central role in Operation Sindoor.
In his address, CM Kumar reiterated his commitment to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He regretted his brief alliances with the RJD–Congress combine, blaming some of his party colleagues for misleading him, pointedly referring to Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, whom he replaced as the JD(U)’s national president nearly two years ago.
Kumar praised Modi for Union Budgets 2024 and 2025 for their Bihar-focused schemes. The JD(U)’s support, along with that of the Telugu Desam Party, was crucial for the BJP to form the government after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He also highlighted his government’s measures, including providing 125 units of free electricity and raising social security pensions. He ended his speech by asking women in the audience to stand and salute the PM.
Modi said the projects, spanning railways, airports, electricity, and water, would help fulfil the aspirations of Seemanchal. He inaugurated the interim terminal building and flagged off the first commercial flight, and remotely flagged off four trains. The PM said the government had approved nearly Rs 475 crore for the development of the makhana sector.
He warned that Seemanchal and eastern India, including Assam and Bengal, faced a grave demographic crisis because of illegal infiltrators. Modi referred to the ‘demography mission’ he had announced from the Red Fort to address the issue. He criticised the Congress–RJD alliance and its “ecosystem” for defending infiltrators for vote-bank politics.
The PM accused the Congress of “insulting” the people of Bihar by comparing them with bidis, referring to a now-deleted social media post by the Kerala unit of the Congress criticising the Centre’s GST policy on tobacco products.
Apart from Kumar, Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Union ministers Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan were among those present.
Source from: https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/modi-purnia-projects-bihar-women-gst-makhana-board-125091501383_1.html
