Rahul exposed his maternal roots in Italy by insulting Chhathi Maiyya: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday launched a stinging attack on Rahul Gandhi, charging the Congress leader with betraying his ''maternal roots in Italy'' by denigrating Chhath Puja festival.

The former BJP president, who addressed four back-to-back rallies in poll-bound Bihar, also claimed the INDIA bloc will be ''wiped out'' as people of the state will ''avenge'' the ''insult to Chhathi Maiyya'' that came months after Congress workers in the state had allegedly hurled abuses at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother.

''Rahul baba has said Modi and others who worshipped Chhathi Maiyya were indulging in drama. His maternal roots are in Italy, and hence he is incapable of appreciating Indian sensibilities,'' alleged Shah.

He urged voters to press EVM buttons having NDA symbols with ''such rage that the tremors are felt in Italy''.

The former BJP president lambasted the Congress and its allies for ''thwarting for 70 years'' the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya for which ''a struggle had been on for five centuries, since the times of the Mughals, and continued under the British''.

He also lauded the Modi government for developing a modern university in Nalanda, which ''no marauder like Bakhtiyar Khilji will be able to destroy''.

He also pointed out that work was on for giving a facelift to Punaura Dham, the shrine situated at the birthplace of Goddess Sita in Sitamarhi district of Bihar, at a cost of about Rs 850 crore.

''In two years from now, you will see PM Modi performing the consecration ceremony (pran pratishtha) at Punaura Dham,'' Shah said.

Shah began his rally in Nalanda by invoking the memories of Chanakya and Chandragupta, the master-disciple duo who lived in the region and are credited with having established the Maurya kingdom, arguably the most powerful empire in ancient India.

The Union minister claimed that Bihar witnessed 'jungle raj' during the chief ministership of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi.

''Bihar witnessed over 32,000 kidnappings and 12 major massacres during the Lalu-Rabri regime from 1992-2004... Nitish Kumar ended the 'jungle raj'... but RJD is trying to bring back 'jungle raj' in the state with a new face,'' he alleged.

He also rubbished the claim of Tejashwi Yadav, INDIA bloc's chief ministerial candidate, that upon returning to power, the NDA will ''recover with interest'' money transferred into accounts of women in Bihar under welfare schemes.

''Nobody can dare to take that money back. RJD leaders must give up this diatribe,'' the Union home minister said.

Shah also highlighted the contrast between 20 years of Nitish Kumar's rule, which witnessed ''not a single massacre'', unlike the period when RJD was in power and Naxal-infested areas saw ''38 carnages''.

The home minister claimed that ever since JD(U) president Nitish Kumar formed an NDA government in the state, ''there has been a 20 per cent drop in murders while dacoities and kidnappings have gone down by 80 per cent''.

''We are preparing the youth of Bihar to win medals in the 2036 Olympics that will happen in India,'' he claimed.

Shah alleged that the UPA government indulged in scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore during 10 years of rule, whereas nobody could point fingers at Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for corruption.

''Lalu Prasad was involved in fodder, land-for-jobs, bitumen and flood relief scams... whereas Bihar moved on the path of development under the Nitish Kumar regime and the Centre hiked MSP for agricultural produce and bolstered infrastructure,'' he said.

He also showered encomiums on Modi for ''making the country secure'', citing ''surgical strike'', Balakot airstrike and Operation Sindoor which were launched in response to terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan, and drew a contrast with ''mayhem by terrorists during the UPA regime''.

''We will also drive out infiltrators from Bihar who usurp poor people's foodgrains, employment and indulge in anti-national activities,'' he said.

Shah announced that a medical college will be set up in Lakhisarai over the next two years in the name of Bihar's first chief minister Shri Krishna Sinha.

The NDA candidates for whom Shah canvassed included Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Kumar Sinha, the BJP nominee from Lakhisarai, and Samrat Choudhary who is contesting from Tarapur in Munger.

The former BJP president urged the people to vote for the deputy CMs, with the cryptic remark that they were on their way to become ''big men''.

His forceful utterances in favour of Choudhary, who has had a meteoric rise since joining BJP less than a decade ago, caught the attention of the Congress.

The opposition party's media and publicity department chief Pawan Khera shared a news clip on X with the remark, ''Only chief minister is bigger than the Deputy CM. Hope Nitish Kumar is listening.'' Under the NDA rule, the Centre has spent Rs 18 lakh crore on road, railways and greenfield expressway projects in Bihar, while a Makhana Board has also been established, he said.

He said that the Centre has spent Rs 9,500 crore on reviving Barauni fertiliser plant, Rs 900 crore on infrastructural projects in Munger and gave the GI tag to Katrani rice from the region.