‘Victory in Bihar elections has paved way for BJP’s triumph in Bengal’: PM Narendra Modi

PM Modi also expressed gratitude to various sections of Bihar’s society, especially its women and youth, for giving the NDA the biggest political mandate in the state since 2010.

The existing ‘Muslim-Yadav’ or ‘MY Formula’, Modi said, had been redefined as ‘Mahila-Yuva’ with ‘tushtikaran’ or appeasement having been replaced by ‘santushtikaran’ or satisfaction at its core, adding that the mandate was also a vote of confidence in democracy itself, the Election Commission of India and its bid to purify electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) which had come under attack by the Mahagathbandhan, especially the Congress.

“Yeh prachand jeet, yeh atoot vishwas… Bihar ke logon ne bilkul garda uda diya hai (This massive win, this unbreakable faith… the people of Bihar have outdone themselves),” the PM said while addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters on DDU Marg in the national capital.

“We NDA people are the servants of janata janardan. With our hard work, we keep making the people happy and we have stolen their hearts… Phir ek baar NDA sarkar,” he added.

This mandate, the PM said, would ensure that the days of ‘jungle raj’ did not return to Bihar, whose people had voted for a ‘viksit Bihar, samridh Bihar’ (a developed and prosperous Bihar).

“Ek purani kahawat hai: loha lohe ko kaat ta hai. Bihar mein kuch dalon ne tushtikaran wala MY formula banaya tha. Par aaj ki iss jeet ne ek naya sakaratmak MY formula diya hai: mahila aur youth (There is an old saying: iron cuts iron. In Bihar, some parties had created an MY formula based on appeasement. But today’s victory has created a new positive MY formula: women and youth),” Modi added.

In addition to Nitish Kumar’s leadership, the PM also thanked other NDA leaders, including Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha, HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, RLP’s Upendra Kushwaha and LJP chief Chirag Paswan for exhibiting “great leadership” and workers across party lines for coordination at the polling booth level.

“This is not just a victory for the NDA but for democracy itself. It has bolstered public confidence in the Election Commission. Over the past few years, increased voter turnout, particularly among marginalised groups, has been a significant achievement for the Election Commission,” he said.

“This is the same Bihar that was once plagued by Maoist insurgency, where voting in Naxal-affected areas often concluded as early as 3 pm. However, in this election, people turned out to vote with enthusiasm and hope. Today, it is not just the NDA that has won, it is also a victory for democracy and for those who have faith in it; it has strengthened the people’s faith in the EC,” the PM also said.

Citing an example from the days of ‘jungle raj’ when there used to be ‘open violence’ at polling booths where boxes containing ballot papers used to be looted, PM Modi said statistics related to re-polling – for which there had been no applications – evidenced not only peaceful polling but the fact that the young voter took the purification of electoral rolls “very seriously”.

“The Bihar elections have proven one more thing: the country’s voters, especially our young voters, take the purification of the voter list very seriously. The youth of Bihar have also supported the purification of the voter list wholeheartedly,” he said.

“It is now the responsibility of every party to activate their respective workers at the polling booth level and join the work of purifying the voter list with enthusiasm and give 100 per cent contribution, so that the voter list can be completely purified in other places as well,” the PM added.

Taking on the RJD and the Congress, PM Modi said that the results were a mandate for politics of development over that of dynasticism, and he then reignited the debate around alleged insults meted out to Chhathi Maiya.

“Those who ruled the country for decades have defamed Bihar; they neither respected Bihar’s glorious past nor honoured its traditions and culture… those who can call Chhath Puja drama, how much respect do they have for Bihar’s traditions? And look at their arrogance: the RJD and the Congress have not apologised to Chhathi Maiya to this day. The people of Bihar will never forget this,” he said, adding that the NDA sought heritage status from UNESCO for ‘Bihar and its traditions’.

Citing Haryana and Maharashtra, which reposed electoral trust in the NDA, and the BJP winning Delhi after 25 years, PM Modi said that the people re-electing BJP-led NDA governments signified the establishment of a “pro-people, pro-governance, and pro-development agenda” as the new foundation of the nation’s politics.

“After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, assembly elections have been held in six states of the country, and in these six elections, the Congress has not been able to cross the figure of 100 seats even once. Even today, the number of our MLAs elected in just one election is more than what the Congress could win in the previous six elections combined,” he said.

Accusing the Congress of having “no positive vision for the country”, the PM sought to christen it the ‘Muslim-League Maoist Congress’ or MMC. “The Congress’s entire agenda revolves around this, so a new faction is emerging within it, and it is uncomfortable with this negative politics… I apprehend that there might be another major split in Congress,” he said.

“The victory in Bihar has paved the way for the BJP’s triumph in Bengal. I want to assure the people of West Bengal that, with your support, the BJP will put an end to the Jungle Raj in the state as well,” PM Modi said.