PM Modi rolls out Rs 40,000 cr projects in Bihar, announces GST relief

PM Modi launched projects worth Rs 40,000 crore in Purnia, Bihar, announced GST cuts to ease kitchen budgets, and invoked women's role in shaping the state's politics

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Monday reached out to the women electorate in poll-bound Bihar, saying that GST rationalisation will ease pressure on their household budgets by bringing down the prices of daily-use items, even as he raked up the infiltration issue saying that every infiltrator will have to leave the country.

 

It comes against the backdrop of ongoing hearing of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls of Bihar in the Supreme Court. The ruling BJP claims that it will weed out illegal migrants.  

 

The prime minister also laid foundation stones and inaugurated projects worth ₹40,000 crore in Purnia, in poll-bound Bihar’s Seemanchal region, including its interim airport terminal building. He said his government has delivered on its promise by notifying the setting up of the National Makhana Board.

  

In his speech, the PM accused the opposition Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for supporting “infiltrators”, alleging that they were law unto themselves and Bihar’s women suffered the brunt of lawlessness in the state.  

 

The PM said that Seemanchal and eastern India, including Assam and Bengal, faced a grave demographic crisis because of illegal infiltrators. 

Modi said he announced the setting up of a “demography mission” from the Red Fort to address the issue. He criticised the Congress-RJD alliance and its “ecosystem” for defending infiltrators and attempting to shield them for vote-bank politics.

 

Modi, meanwhile, praised the “leadership” of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and spoke of the Centre and state government’s women-centric schemes. Since 2010, support of women voters has been crucial to the electoral victories of Kumar-led Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition.

 

PM Modi said that women of Bihar were the driving force behind the change that the state has witnessed by keeping the opposition out of power.

 

The PM drew a parallel between the contribution of Purnia in the country’s freedom struggle and Operation Sindoor, saying that a “brave” son of Purnia played a crucial role in the latter. While the PM didn’t refer to him by name, the reference was to Awadesh Kumar Bharti, India’s Deputy Chief of Air Staff, who as the Director General of Air Operations played a key role in the operation.

 

In his address, Bihar CM Kumar reiterated that he will stay in the National Democratic Alliance. He regretted his short-lived partnerships with the RJD-Congress combine, blaming some of his party leaders of having misled him, adding that “one of whom is sitting here” and pointed towards Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan', whom he replaced as the party’s national president nearly two years ago.

 

Kumar praised the PM for the Union Budgets of 2024 and 2025 for its Bihar-centric schemes. The JDU’s support, along with that of the Telugu Desam Party, was crucial for the BJP to form the government after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The CM also spoke of his government, including making 125 units of power free and a hike in social security pensions. He ended his speech by asking the women to stand and salute the PM.

 

Modi said the projects, spanning railways, airports, electricity, and water, will serve as a means to fulfil the aspirations of Seemanchal. He inaugurated the interim terminal building and flagged off the first commercial flight from Purnia, and also remotely flagged off four trains. The PM said the government has approved nearly ₹475 crore for the development of the makhana sector.

 

The PM said the Congress has “insulted” the people of Bihar by comparing them with ‘bidis’. The reference was to a now-deleted social media post by the Kerala unit of the Congress, which had sought to criticise the Centre’s GST policy on tobacco products.

 

Apart from Kumar, Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Union ministers Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan were among those present at the event.