Bihar poll verdict is a victory of democracy: Modi attacks Opposition

PM Modi said that the 2025 Bihar assembly elections have shown that when governments prioritise development, voters put their faith in them.

People vote for parties that fulfil their aspirations and the recent Bihar assembly polls have shown that when governments prioritise development, voters put their faith in them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the gathering during the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture organised by The Indian Express, in New Delhi. (DPR PMO)

Delivering the Ramnath Goenka lecture, the PM said the outcome of the Bihar polls, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance win a sweeping mandate, was a historic result. The NDA won 202 of the 243 seats to retain power in the state. He said the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal had “betrayed” the people. Instead of focussing on development, he said, it opted for the misrule of “Jungle Raj, using a term used by critics for the law and order record of the previous RJD-led government.

“...Another thing that stood out was that nobody can overlook the increasing participation of people in democracy. There was the highest voter turnout in the history of elections in Bihar. Women turnout was about 9% more than the male turnout. This also is the victory of democracy,” the PM said.

Urging all state governments, irrespective of their ideology or position to focus on development, the PM said, the result in Bihar has shown how vast the aspirations of Indians are. “...And they trust only those political parties who work with good intentions to meet those aspirations and give development a priority…The Bihar election is a lesson for all state governments, of all ideologies, that the kind of government we run will decide our future.The RJD government was given 15 years by the people of Bihar. If (RLD leader and former chief minister) Lalu Yadav wanted, he could’ve done so much for the progress of Bihar but he opted for Jungle Raj. People of Bihar could never forgive this betrayal,” he said.

Pointing out that India is moving towards developmen t, he said the country is not only an emerging market but an emerging model as well. “Today the world considers the Indian growth model as the model of hope,” he said.

Urging state governments to create a better environment for investment and ease of doing business, the PM said they should compete to move ahead in development parameters and then see how people put their faith in them.

He said to win elections one should not be in an “election mode but emotional mode”, putting people’s interests first.

The PM said it is important that benefits of development should reach everybody, especially the poor, the marginalised and the deprived so that social justice is ensured.

Criticising previous governments for prioritising their own interests, he said the National Democratic Alliance government is not only working for social justice but towards saturation of schemes so that no one is left out.

The PM said Urban Naxals had already entrenched themselves within the opposition, and today, they have transformed the Congress party into what he termed the “Muslim League–Maoist Congress” (MMC) that has abandoned national interest for its own selfish motives and is increasingly becoming a threat to the unity of the country.

“Naxalism across the country is shrinking fast but during the Congress rule it was becoming much more prevalent. In the last five decades almost every big state was affected by naxalism. It is unfortunate that the Congress kept nurturing those people who rejected India’s Constitution…The Muslim League- Maoist Congress sacrificed the country‘s interest…This Congress has become a big danger to the country’s unity,” he said.

The PM also said that the next 10 years are crucial for India to reset its educational and cultural moorings and snap out of its colonial hangover.

“We are not opposed to the English language, we are in support of Indian languages. We should pledge that we should free ourselves from the chains that Macaulay tied us with,” he said. He was referring to Thomas Babington Macauly , who as a member of the Governor General’s council in 1835 recommended English as the medium of instruction in Indian schools during British rule.