The top BJP leadership went on full throttle on Day 1 of election campaign in Bihar on Friday. It was a sort of carpet bombing by BJP star campaigners led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Joining him were Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP chief J P Nadda, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and others. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar also addressed election rallies.
On behalf of Mahagathbandhan RJD’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav held the fort alone. He addressed four rallies.
Modi unleashed all his weapons at his two election rallies in Samastipur and Begusarai. He described Mahagathbandhan as “choron ki jamaat” (bunch of thieves).
Amit Shah said, Bihar has now changed and a hundred Shahabuddins cannot harm the state.
For Mahagathbandhan, fresh problems have cropped up after Mukesh Sahni, ‘son of Mallah’, was declared the Deputy CM face. Leaders of other castes are questioning why their castes should not get the same respect.
Congress remembered its former party president Sitaram Kesri after 25 years on his death anniversary. Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders offered flowers near his portrait at the party HQ.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Karpoorigram, the village of Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur and garlanded his statue before addressing his Samastipur rally. Modi is the first PM to visit Karpoorigram. It was his government which honoured the late Karpoori Thakur with Bharat Ratna.
In his rallies, Modi explained to voters the difference between NDA and Mahagathbandhan. He said, NDA has a clear leadership, its policies are well defined and its intent is transparent. “On the other hand, Mahagathbandhan has become ‘Lathbandhan’, an alliance where each constituent is fighting the other”, he said.
Modi then unleashed his third weapon. He spoke about corruption and jungle raj during RJD rule. The Prime Minsiter said, “the most corrupt family of Bihar has joined hands with the most corrupt family of India, and both these families can never serve either Bihar or India.”
For MGB, Tejashwi Yadav was the lone star campaigner. He addressed rallies in Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, Ujiarpur and Darbhanga, where he alleged that Modi government has unleashed CBI, ED and Income Tax department to harass his family.
Before taking off from Patna, Tejashwi took Mukesh Sahni, Indian Inclusive Party chief I.P.Gupta and RJD’s young Muslims leader Qari Shoaib with him in his helicopter.
No top leader from Bihar will ever admit this, but the fact is, every election in the state is fought on the basis of castes.
This is the reason why Nitish Kumar has been ruling as CM for the last 20 years. This is the reason why the leader of backward castes Karpoori Thakur was remembered.
This is also the reason why the Congress sat up and remembered Sitaram Kesri, who hailed from Bania community.
This is the reason why Tejashwi made it a point to take Mukesh Sahni and I.P.Gupta with him in his chopper and ensured to post the picture on social media.
There is one difference this time. Parties like RJD and Congress are no longer speaking about Muslim community. Leaders of these parties take it as a settled point that Muslims would never support the BJP-led alliance. But Asaduddin Owaisi has sent a cat among the pigeons.
Owaisi is asking, if a leader representing two per cent caste is declared the Deputy CM face, will ‘Abdul’ belonging to 18 per cent Muslim community remain content by spreading carpets for leaders? Such a stinging remark is bound to have an impact.

Pakistan caught between frying pan and fire

Operation Thar Shakti war exercise was conducted on Friday at Longewala border adjoining Pakistan. The new elite Bhairav commandos joined the infantry, artillery and army air defence units to carry out the exercise. There were tank columns, artillery guns pounded, and army air support units displayed their fire power. Kamikaze drones displayed their fire power too.
Artificial intelligence based targeting system, electronic warfare measures were on display along with Arjun and T-90 tanks, Pinaka rocket systems. Jointness, Atmanirbharta and Innovation (JAI) was the focus of the exercise.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, the armed forces have already given a dose to shake up the Pakistani army establishment during Operation Sindoor, and if any fresh misadventure happens, Pakistan will be destroyed.
Pakistan army chief Gen Asim Munir will lose his sleep watching the firepower of the Indian army. Already he is losing his sleep because of Afghan Taliban fighters ready with their guns and rocket launchers.
Taliban has been clearly challenging Munir to try attacking Afghanistan. Afghan Taliban has repeatedly said that it does not recognize the Durand Line and it considers Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa as its province.
Former Pakistani army officers say, Afghanistan has left Munir shaking in fear. Pakistan is caught between the frying pan and fire.
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