PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that if voted back to power, his Government will crack down on illegal immigration which has flourished because of “vote bank politics”. The Prime Minister made the averment at a rally in Bihar’s Purnea district, which shares its borders with Nepal and Bangladesh, saying, the poll outcome “on June 4 will decide the fate of the Seemanchal region” in the State. “Vote bank politics has allowed illegal immigration to go unchecked in the Seemanchal region, leading to grave security risks and to the detriment of the poor, including Dalits, living in the region. Many times they have been attacked and their houses have been set on fire,” said Modi. He added, “Those who are opposing the CAA should know, Modi is not going to be stopped or be scared” even as he reeled out action against cross-border terrorism, abrogation of Article 370 and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya as “big” achievements of his Government.

 

The PM’s address at Purnea came on the heels of another election meeting he addressed in Gaya. His speeches at both places were marked by fervent references to the Constitution and Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar. “I feel indebted to the poor, backward classes, the Dalits as I have come from among them. And I feel indebted to Babasaheb Ambedkar whose Constitution allowed someone like me to reach where I am,” Modi said. Notably, the impassioned references to the Constitution came a day after Lalu Prasad, whose RJD is the principal opponent of the NDA in Bihar, had alleged that the BJP was aiming at changing the Constitution, citing utterances by many leaders of the party in the recent past. Unsurprisingly, the PM’s speech at both places was marked by sharp attacks on the RJD, which he accused of having ushered in “jungle raj” while it was in power in Bihar.

 

He also declared that “in the next five years the NDA Government’s crackdown on corruption will continue”. While Prasad himself has been convicted in fodder scam cases, many of his family members, including younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, are named in the land-for-jobs scam. Incidentally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), was conspicuous by his absence at the rally in Purnea, where the PM was canvassing in favour of the party’s MPs Santosh Kushwaha and Dulal Chandra Goswami, from Purnea and Katihar respectively. Both seats go to polls on April 26. Gaya, a reserved seat from where former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is trying his luck as the NDA candidate, goes to polls in the first phase.