Patna: Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an "auction PM" and not "action PM" over the way he announced the Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package for Bihar, the Congress on Thursday said people will not tolerate such mockery of their self-respect.
"Modi is not an action PM, but an auction PM. He auctioned coal blocks and spectrum. Day before yesterday he put Bihar on the auction block and made fun of the state. The people of the state will not tolerate the mockery of their self-respect," senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said.
Ramesh said the way Modi kept asking the crowd about how much special package he should give was "like playing with the self-respect of the people of Bihar." He asserted that 90 per cent of the projects included in the special package were either announced or saw the start of their implementation between 2011 and 2014, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was at the Centre.
Ramesh said the package was a poll-time repackaging of old schemes by the Prime Minister to avoid giving special category status to Bihar, and Congress feared that once Bihar Assembly elections get over, BJP president Amit Shah would declare it a political 'jumla' (saying) just like he said about the promises made by Modi during the Lok Sabha polls to bring back black money and distribute among the people.
The senior Congress leader alleged the saffron party was talking about packages and development just to grab the headlines, but in reality was instigating communal polarisation ahead of the Bihar elections.
"BJP is employing the same strategy we noticed during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It is talking about development on the upper level from its helicopters, but is instigating communal polarisation at the ground level," he said.
Ramesh, currently a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, said the forthcoming Bihar polls were important for the entire country as politics in India was at a very sensitive and delicate juncture.
"People need to understand that amid this communal polarisation started by BJP, the results of Bihar Assembly elections will have much impact on Indian politics for the next two to three years. This is a crucial time," he added.
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