NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit out at the previous government of Lalu Prasad in Bihar and said that the NDA has always prioritised the welfare of farmers.
PM Modi, while addressing a rally in Bihar’s Bhagalpur, took an indirect dig at Lalu Prasad and said, “Those who can ‘eat’ fodder of animals, can never change the situation for the farmers.”
“Be it at the centre or at the state level here under the leadership of Nitish ji, welfare of farmers is priority for NDA government,” PM Modi said.
“I have always maintained that poor, ‘annadata’, youth and women are four pillars of democracy,” PM Modi said in Bhagalpur.
PM Modi also slammed the previous governments for not prioritising the welfare of farmers. “Whether it is the Congress or ‘jungle raj’ people, the problems of farmers don’t matter to them. Earlier when there was flood or drought or hailstorm, these people used to leave the farmers to fend for themselves. In 2014, when you blessed NDA, I said it will not work like this. The NDA government launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, under which claims worth Rs 1.75 crore have been given to farmers in times of disaster,” PM Modi said.
More than Rs 22,000 crore was also transferred into the bank accounts of 9.8 crore farmers across the country as PM Modi released the 19th installment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
“Nearly 22,000 crore rupees have been sent to bank accounts of farmers across the country in a single click. As soon as I clicked the button, I saw people checking their mobile phones to confirm money transfer, and I could see the happiness in their eyes… The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi installment released today includes 75 lakh farmer beneficiaries from Bihar as well,” PM Modi said.
Bihar chief minister and ally Nitish Kumar also shared the stage with PM Modi.
“It is a matter of great fortune for us that the PM is releasing the instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana into the accounts of farmers from the land of Bihar. More than 76,000 are included in this. This is a very important scheme of the Central government which is directly benefitting farmers,” the CM said before PM Modi’s speech.
The JDU chief also attacked the previous government in Bihar over the condition of electricity, education and safety.
“When we formed the government for the first time in 2005… what was the situation here, the situation was so bad that people avoided going out of their house in the evening. There were Hindu-Muslim altercations. The condition of education, health systems was bad. Condition of roads and electricity supply were in bad shape. Even in capital Patna, power supply was only for eight hours,” Nitish said.
“Now, there is no fear in the state, brotherhood and peace prevail in the region. Tremendous work has been done in fields like education, health, roads, electricity, water supply,” the CM added.