‘Biharis would not be allowed’: PM Narendra Modi reminds Bodh Gaya of ex-Congress CM's remarks

PRime government minister Narendra Modi on fri reminded the people of Bodh Gaya of a yesteryear comment by a united states congress chief minister against migrants from Bihar, accusing the Congress and its allies of harbouring contempt for the state’s people and treating them merely as a “vote bank”.Taking a swipe at the Rastriya Janata Dal and its partners at a rally in Bihar's Bodh Gaya, PM Narendra Modi said, “For them, the people of Bihar are only a vote bank; they have no concern for the struggles of the poor. You may recall how a Congress CM once said from a stage that Biharis would not be allowed to enter their state. Such is the Congress’s hatred towards the people of Bihar. Our effort is to ensure that Bihar’s sons and daughters find employment and live a life of dignity here itself.”Modi was apparently referring to the remarks of former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who ahead of the 2022 assembly election, had asked people not to “let UP, Bihar ke bhaiya enter Punjab”. The remarks that triggered sharp reactions from leaders such as Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and Union minister Kiren Rijiju.The rally, Modi also invoked the Centre's recently introduced Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, that provides for dismissal of the Prime Minister or chief ministers jailed for 30 days or more, and the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. “So, we decided to bring in a law that provides for dismissing a corrupt chief minister, or even the Prime Minister, if he or she spends 30 days in jail… But when we brought in a stringent law, the RJD, the Congress and the Left were livid. They are angry because they are scared of facing punishment for their own sins,” he alleged.The PM also accused the Opposition of shielding “infiltrators” for political gains. “There is one more threat — that of infiltrators (ghuspaithiye) that our nation faces, which I also spoke about in my Independence Day speech. They cannot be allowed to partake of resources of our country. I have, therefore, called for a demography mission. But the Congress and the RJD want to protect these infiltrators for the sake of their politics of vote bank,” Modi said.Modi also claimed his government had delivered corruption-free governance in the last 11 years, contrasting it with past Congress-led regimes that “saw scams” and the RJD, whose corruption was “known even to the man on the street”.Referring to development works in Bihar, Modi said, “The Congress and RJD, while in power, filled up their coffers with public money. For this purpose, they would make projects linger on endlessly. In contrast, I am inaugurating a bridge today for which I had laid the foundation stone barely a few years ago.”(With inputs from PTI)