Top Opposition leaders, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday lashed out at the Narendra Modi government for "doing nothing other than 'show-baazi'" by slashing allocations to all major social security schemes like MGNREGA.
Addressing the 'Swabhiman Rally' in Patna along with top leaders of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party, Gandhi said "Modi-government has completed one-fourth of its time. Till now, what has it done other than ‘show-baazi’… It has done nothing. You know better than me."
She attacked the BJP-led regime for not fulfilling its promise to provide employment to one crore people but also restricting job opportunities in the government and said the funds for major social security schemes like MGNREGA have been "heavily slashed".
Targeting Modi for his DNA remarks, Gandhi said the prime minister has demeaned Bihar and shown its people in a bad light. "Some people take pleasure in mocking Bihar. Whenever they get opportunity they comment about its DNA and culture. They also call it BIMARU," she said.
On government's decision to allow Land Bill to lapse, Gandhi said that Modi had to bow to people's will by giving up the ordinance.
"This is an anti-farmer government. They want to grab their land and distribute it among their rich friends. We fought for the protection of farmers' rights in the Parliament and in the end government had to bow down," she asserted.
Present on the dais were Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and SP leader Shivpal Yadav, among others.
The Congress president also questioned the government's stand on Pakistan in the light of deaths of several army and paramilitary personnel and civilians in the firing from across the border.
"Earlier Prime Minister Modi used to lecture on Pakistan. Now when our jawans are being killed on border and people are being attacked, what is his policy on Pakistan? The nation wants to know," she said in an apparent reference to the recent calling off of NSA-level talks between the two countries.
Holding Modi responsible for economic crisis, Gandhi said that it is because of his mistakes that inflation has gone up. "Inflation is rising and value of money is declining. PM made only empty promises of a corruption-free India," she said.
Appreciating RJD chief Lalu Prasad for his contribution towards the development of the state, Gandhi said "Congress contributed in taking the state forward. It gave approval to make policies. Lalu Prasad has also contributed but the state needs more."
Reacting to the government's decision to let the land ordinance lapse, Nitish Kumar said "today is a day of joy. This was not the PM's Mann ki Baat but that of the people and the nation (to do away with the ordinance)".
"The people of Bihar were misled (by BJP) during the Lok Sabha but they are not going to fall prey to such false promises this time," the Chief Minister said.
Terming the JD(U)-RJD-Cong-SP coalition as 'Mangal Raaj Part-2' against Modi's comment on 'Jungle Raaj', Prasad said the BJP wants to "create tension between Hindu-Muslim. I know their design. Modi called us "Jungle-Raaj Part-2 but this is Mangal Raaj Part-2," he said.
Insisting on the disclosure of caste census data, the RJD supremo said the government should reveal the caste of landless people.
"Government census says every third family in villages is landless. Which caste do these landless people belong? Why is government not revealing it," he said.
