NEW DELHI: “Siyawar Ram Chandra Ki Jai” and not the usual “Jai Shree Ram”, that’s how Union home minister Amit Shah began his speech in poll-bound Bihar on Friday. Shah invoked Sita while laying the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Janki Mandir, revered as her birthplace, a familiar strategy for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has long leveraged the Ram temple’s development in Ayodhya to shape its politics.Shah also talked about Sita’s contribution to the Indian culture as an ideal daughter and mother as he went on to launch the Sitamarhi–Delhi Amrit Bharat Train.
“In Indian culture, the place of Mother Sita is unparalleled. In her single lifetime, she exemplified the roles of an ideal wife, ideal daughter, ideal mother, and ideal queen mother. And today, the Sitamarhi–Delhi Amrit Bharat Train has also been launched. This train will benefit Raxaul, Narkatiaganj, Bagaha, and Sitamarhi,” he said.Shah then went on to attack the opposition over Operation Sindoor. As Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar – a former ally of the RJD and Congress – looked on, Shah targeted “Lalu and company” for “opposing” Operation Sindoor and the EC’s controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the timing of which was also questioned by the Supreme Court.Addressing people at Punaura Dham Temple in Sitamarhi, Bihar, he said, “Congress party and Lalu are opposing Operation Sindoor in the Parliament…Lalu and company do not know that this is the government of Narendra Modi, the NDA government. No one has the right to mess with the security of the nation.”Reiterating the Bangladeshi infiltrators rhetoric, Shah targeted RJD patriarch Lalu questioning if he wanted to “save” those coming from outside and snatching “jobs” of the people of Bihar. The statement comes as the unemployment rate in the state remains higher than the national average at 3.9%, as per central government’s data released in 2024.“Who does Lalu Prasad Yadav want to save? … Do you want to save those Bangladeshis who come from outside and snatch jobs of the people of Bihar? … Rahul Gandhi should stop this vote bank politics and SIR is not happening for the first time. It was started by Jawaharlal Nehru and it happened in 2003 as well…They are finding reasons as they are going to lose the Bihar elections,” Shah said. Targeting Congress, he said, “UPA responded to terrorist attacks with inaction. Modi government answered with surgical strikes, Balakot and Operation Sindoor.”The state cabinet approved Rs 882.87 crore for the integrated development of the temple complex, allocating Rs 137 crore for the old temple’s restoration, Rs 728 crore for tourism projects, and Rs 16 crore for a decade of maintenance.
