In Bihar, Rajnath seeks fourth consecutive term for Modi

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asserted that the BJP was aiming at ''not just the third, but even a fourth consecutive term'' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The former BJP president made a statement to the effect at a public meeting in Bihar's Darbhanga district, just a few weeks before announcements of general elections.

''I urge the people here to ensure that Narendra Modi gets not just the third, but even a fourth consecutive term in office. We want to win the polls for nation-building, and not to enjoy power'', said Singh.

The Defence Minister spoke before winding up his day-long tour of Bihar, which saw him making a stopover at Siwan to hold discussions with BJP workers from a ''cluster'' of five parliamentary constituencies in Bihar.

Showering encomiums on the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister claimed the recent release of former Navy officials from jail in Qatar could be possible ''only because of the intervention of Modi, who embodies India's rising global stature''.

He said, ''I was in Andhra Pradesh yesterday and happened to meet one of the released ex-servicemen who exclaimed that he owed his freedom to the Prime Minister''.

The Defence Minister also touched upon the Balakot airstrikes that ''showed the world that India was no longer weak, but capable of taking the battle to the enemy's camp'' and the return of thousands of students from Ukraine ''after the war with Russia was halted upon telephonic requests Modi made to the Presidents of the two countries as also the US''.

Training his guns at the Congress, he alleged that whenever the party, now in the opposition, held power, ''all honours were reserved for just one family'' and it took a BJP government to confer Bharat Ratna upon first President Rajendra Prasad and former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, both of whom hailed from Bihar.

''Even P V Narasimha Rao, the former Prime Minister, was not considered for Bharat Ratna by a Congress government, though he remained with the party for life'', said Singh.

The Union minister also recounted Rajiv Gandhi's famous remark about only 15 paise, of every rupee spent by the Centre, reaching the people and said ''under Modi such corruption has been done away with, thanks to the trinity formed by Modi of Jan Dhan bank accounts linked to mobile and Aadhar numbers''.

He also said, ''You cannot think of a Prime Minister more sensitive to the needs of common man than Modi, who thought of building toilets on a war footing''.

''Our government did not think of electoral implications while doing away with triple talaq, a cruel practice affecting Muslim women. Rapes have been made punishable with death'', said the BJP leader.

He also said abrogation of Article 370 and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya were proof that ''there is no gap between words and deeds of BJP, unlike the Congress which spoke of eradicating poverty but did nothing''.

He claimed ''world-renowned independent agencies have confirmed that under Modi's rule, crores of people have been pulled out of the clutches of poverty. We have made a leap in reaching the fifth spot among world economies. By 2027, it is projected that we will be among the top three. The PM has already promised that we shall be a developed nation by 2047''.

He also underscored ''We have been in power for 10 years, but there has been no corruption scandal, unlike the Congress era, when be it jeeps or telecom spectrum, everything resulted in a scam, causing even ministers to end up in jails''.

Earlier, the Defence Minister had addressed a gathering of local intelligentsia in Sitamarhi town, where he said the country's defence exports were worth ''about Rs 1,000 crore, when I took over, and these have now soared to worth over Rs 20,000 crore''.

''Our total defence manufacture stands at a monumental one lakh crore. Try figuring it out by scribbling the number, in digits, on a piece of paper. This shows India is becoming self-reliant (atma nirbhar) and leaders across the world acknowledge that 21st century shall belong to India'', said Singh.

The former BJP president asserted that his party was characterised by ''no difference between words and deeds'', and disclosed ''I had been entrusted with preparing the manifesto for elections in 2014 and again five years later. On both occasions, Narendra Modi had insisted that we do not make any promise that we could not fulfil''.

Going down the memory lane, he recalled having been jailed at the height of the Ayodhya movement in 1990s ''when I headed the BJP's youth wing''.

Singh began his trip by paying obeisance at the Punaura Dham, a shrine in Sitamarhi situated at the spot where Goddess Sita is believed to have been discovered by King Janaka.

''The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility has been rising, there will be no area left where the lotus would not bloom'', Singh had told reporters on the occasion.

He was also asked whether the lotus would bloom ''for the first time'' in Sitamarhi, a Lok Sabha seat the BJP has never won.

He replied ''With the blessings of Mother Janaki, the lotus would bloom in Sitamarhi, too'', but hastened to add, with a ghost of smile on his lips, saying ''there is a pond nearby with lots of lotuses. So there is no problem''.