Muzaffarpur: Sharing the stage with foe-turned-friend Ram Vilas Paswan, Narendra Modi today attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying Bihar has become a safe haven for terrorists as he has failed to act tough in his bid to win over Muslim votes.Addressing a big rally in which LJP chief Paswan and his son Chirag appeared for the first time with him after the two parties stitched an alliance last week, he said the country's polity was now divided into two camps."One headed by us is looking for a solution to country's problems while the other is searching for a solution to stop Modi," the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said.Praising Paswan, Modi said he had remained courteous to him in personal meetings and did not shy away from being photographed with him despite their ideological differences, an apparent dig at Kumar.Without naming Kumar he said, the Bihar CM was a "hypocrite" who met him with affection in a closed room and ate together but feared shaking hands in public. "People pardon your mistakes but not hypocrisy."Paswan, who had quit the NDA government at the Centre in 2002 after the Gujarat riots blaming Modi, today said there is a wave in favour of Modi which will take him to the seat of power."Modi was born in a poor family who says he has been a victim of political untouchability... He is going to wear a crown of thorns. I hope no community will say a year later that Modi is not their leader," he said, apparently referring to Muslims' unease towards Modi.The Gujarat Chief Minister touched on the terror blasts in his Patna rally in October last year on the day of his rally to hit out at Kumar."The border (Bihar's) with Nepal is a cause for concern. Bihar has become a haven for terrorists due to vote bank politics of the government. It has not adopted tough policies against them to appease some people," he said.You may not like Modi or BJP but those who died in the blasts were also from Bihar, he said."Those indulging in the politics of vote bank do not understand this ideology... Sooner we get rid of such people, the better it is."Welcoming Paswan, Modi said that NDA's strength was going to grow further and so would the troubles of his rivals."They think that BJP, which (they) thought of as a party of Baniyas and Brahmins, has declared a man from OBC as their PM candidate... Let me tell you, the next decade will belong to SCs, STs, the poor and marginalised," he said.Ridiculing the fledgling Third Front, of which Kumar's JD(U) is a member, he alleged that the country's development was the least of their concern. Most parties in the front have been Congress allies, he said.Accusing rivals of using secularism as a tool to grab power, he said they were trying to stop him with claims that secularism was in danger.Sometime back it was in fashion to blame foreign powers and ISI for everything while, currently, it is in fashion to say that secularism is in danger, he said."I say give jobs to youths, they say secularism is in danger. I say give food to the poor, they say secularism is in danger... For them secularism is a political slogan, for us it is that all communities are ours," he said."Modi says stop inflation, stop corruption... They have only one dream, one agenda; stop Modi, stop Modi," he said.Paswan earlier hinted at the reported insult to him by the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD and Congress for his decision to snap ties with them."You are good if you are with them. You become bad if you are not. I tell you all that you must live with honour, there is no point in living in humiliation," he said.He also attacked Kumar for making claims about development in Bihar and said he was going around as a leader on the strength of BJP. No party fulfils the responsibilities of an alliance as BJP does, he said.
